


Exodus

by PumpkinSparks8616



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Alternate Universe, Erebor was lost centuries ago, M/M, Warning - Violence, Warning - massacre, the dwarves have always lived in the Blue Mountains
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-04
Updated: 2014-08-05
Packaged: 2018-01-11 05:08:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 35,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1169052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PumpkinSparks8616/pseuds/PumpkinSparks8616
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They came in the night, and in that one night everything changed. </p>
<p>Orcs attack the Shire, decimating everything in their path. Few survive. But they cannot survive for long, with so few of them left they need protection, shelter. Food.</p>
<p>Bilbo knows what must be done. He must be strong for his fellow hobbits, he must keep his nephew safe and lead them to the Blue Mountains, so that they might beg the aid of the dwarves who live there.  They lost so much, so many friends, their homes, their lives. Bilbo wasn't expecting to find a new home, a new chance at life, love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Burning

**Author's Note:**

> Alright so this fic was something that popped into my head late last night. 
> 
> Things you need to know:
> 
> 1\. Erebor fell ages ago to Smaug, when Thror was Prince before his gold sickness. It was him who led his kin to the Blue Mountains (which were empty until their arrival) and he set up a new kingdom in mountains just as rich as Erebor. This means that Thorin was born in the mountain and so were all his siblings, they had a much happier upbringing.
> 
> 2\. Moria still happened, so they lost their father and grandfather because of their grandfather's greed, and retreated to Ered Luin where Thorin decreed they would no more do raids on ancient dwarf kingdoms beyond their reach (it was not worth the pain and death it brought).
> 
> 3\. Thorin is now king of Ered Luin.

The screams were what Bilbo heard first. They came in the night, when all respectable hobbits were in their beds sleeping. Bilbo had never quite been a respectable hobbit and had been kept awake by a book filled with adventures and elves. In fact, he was probably the only hobbit awake in Hobbiton when the attack came.

The first scream had him on his feet, the second had him out of the door, a large kitchen knife clutched tightly in his hands. The screams had come from the Gamgees’ house. He burst through the door and stuttered to a stop when he saw the attackers. Orcs, three of them, the largest of them all had his hand clenched around Bell’s throat and was drawing a blade from her stomach.

“No!” Bilbo did not think, he charged.  He startled them so much that he managed to get his knife into the neck of the first orc, black blood gushed and covered his hands and face. Years of dealing with his Took cousins and their pranks had him ducking just in time to keep his head but even so the blade of the second orc clipped his shoulder and sent him spinning to the floor. He rolled to stop the second blow from landing in his stomach and scrambled to his feet.

The two orcs chuckled when he brandished his kitchen knife ahead of him.

“ARGH!” Bilbo’s eyes went wide when Hamfast’s youngest boy; Samwise, only seven years old, charged at the two fully grown orcs with nothing but a frying pan. His attack glanced off the shoulder of the smaller orc, but it gave Bilbo the distraction he needed to stick his knife underneath the orc’s arm. He fell to the floor with a soft grunt and Bilbo pushed Sam behind him as he eyed up the last orc. It yelled something and attacked.

Bilbo ducked under the reaching blade and stabbed the last orc in the gut with his knife, twisting it for good measure, his face twisted into a snarl.

The orc fell to the floor and Bilbo spun to Sam.

“Where’s your Da?” He asked but Sam’s eyes were wide and staring at his mother’s prone body, at the red blood spreading quickly from her gut. Bilbo himself had to force himself to tear his eyes away. He grasped Sam by the shoulders and shook him until his eyes finally focussed. “Sam, your Da? Your sisters?”

“Daisy and May…” Sam whimpered and Bilbo’s hands tightened.

“What about Marigold?”

“She’s under the bed. I told her to stay there until I came back.” Sam whispered and Bilbo nodded.

“And your Da?” Sam pointed towards the living room and Bilbo picked up the fauntling before hurrying in that direction, he could already hear the screams from houses around them.

Bilbo found Hamfast struggling to get up, an arrow twisted into his thigh.

“Ham!” He dropped to his knees and Hamfast collapsed against him.

“Bell? The girls?” Bilbo winced and Ham’s eyes filled with tears.

“Ham, there are others. I need to go help.” Ham nodded and grabbed Sam out of his arms. “Marigold is upstairs, I’ll get her and then you all need to hide.”

“But the others!” Bilbo shook his head.

“No. You have children to think about Ham. I don’t. You need to fix your leg.” Bilbo said firmly and Hamfast glared at him but nodded.

Bilbo jumped to his feet and ran through the Smial towards where he knew the girls’ room was. He had to stop himself from retching when he saw the older girls’ bodies splayed in the hallway, he forced the bile down and hurried into the bedroom, there were others he needed to think about. There was no time to think about grieving over the little girls who brought him flowers and their mother’s warm breads to share.

He stopped in front of the bed and slowly knelt down. He could hear the ragged breathing of the youngest Gamgee.

“Goldie?” He called and the breathing stopped. “Marigold? It’s me, Bilbo. Can you come out for me?”

“M-Mister Bilbo?” A curly blonde head popped out from under the bed, he quickly gathered her up and pressed her head to his shoulder to shield her from seeing her sisters.

“Okay Goldie, let’s go find your Da huh?” He asked and she nodded into his shoulder. He hurried from the room, closing the door behind him. He found Hamfast sitting up in his reading chair, with Sam holding his hand so tight his knuckles were white.

“Da!” Marigold cried and Bilbo quickly pressed her into her father’s waiting arms. Hamfast buried his face in her hair and Bilbo turned away.

“I’ll come back when I can.” He called as he ran out of the door hefted the kitchen knife up on his way and securing his grip on it. The street was awash in burning light, and Bilbo’s eyes watered when the billowing smoke had them stinging. He gasped and covered his mouth with his hand, both in horror and to protect himself from inhaling the smoke.

Hobbiton was ablaze, smoke and flames pouring from the windows and doors of his neighbours’ homes. Bag End was so hot he could feel it’s heat from where he stood. He pushed the thought of all of his worldly possessions from his mind and ran to the next door on. It seemed the orc pack had moved on through the Shire for he met no orcs in the next few homes, but neither did he find any of his neighbours alive. Every time he left a Smial the burning in his throat grew stronger as did the despair in his chest.

He reached his cousin Otho’s house and kicked the door in coughing from the black smoke that billowed from the door.

“Hello? Is anyone here?” He choked out.  “Lobelia! Otho!?”

“B-Bilbo?” He spun to see Lobelia trapped under a collapsed table. He ran over and heaved the table away, her leg was stuck at a horrid angle. “Bilbo, orcs!”

“I know Lobelia, we need to hurry, do you know where Otho is? Is he alive?” She pointed towards the bedroom.

“I… I was getting a drink of water when they came, they knocked me down and went after him… Please Bilbo, please make sure he’s alright.” Her voice rose in pitch and he patted her hand.

“I’ll be back in a second.” He said before hurrying to the bedroom, the instant he entered he knew it was too late, there was too much blood for one hobbit, the room was the source of the flames in this Smial, and Otho’s body was already consumed. He ran back to Lobelia. “We have to get out of here.”

“But Otho!” She called and he shook his head.

“It’s too late Lobelia, we have to leave now before the flames reach us.” He pulled her over his shoulder and she screamed in pain before falling limp against his shoulder, for which he was grateful, she would have been in so much pain otherwise.

Lobelia’s Smial was the last on the road and he despaired that she was the only hobbit he had found alive, so many dead: husbands, wives, even the children. He hurried back to the Gamgees’ Smial, it was the only one not on fire, the orcs must have set the fires after murdering the families inside the Smials.

“Mister Bilbo!” Sam called running out to meet him pausing to take in Lobelia’s prone body before shaking his head and tugging at Bilbo’s hand. “Da’s gone really pale!”

Bilbo hurried inside, he saw that Sam had covered his mother with a sheet but the orcs’ bodies were still left prone, he felt his hands begin to shake as what had happened finally set in. He pushed it away; he needed to help his friends. They would go to Tuckborough, he had enough relatives there to stay with someone.

He gasped when he saw Hamfast, he was pale and listing in his armchair and his arms were limp around Marigold who was sobbing and clutching at her father’s shoulders. Bilbo laid Lobelia down on the floor and hurried closer to Hamfast.

“Alright Goldie, can you sit with Sam for a little bit. I’m going to fix your Da right up.” He forced some cheer into his voice, and hoped the children couldn’t tell it was fake before picking Marigold up and passing her to Sam who stumbled a bit under her weight before he sat down with her in his lap and started to braid her hair.

Bilbo meanwhile was pulling back the fabric around Ham’s leg, the skin was raw and red, his thigh was swollen to twice its size, the arrow was still stuck into the flesh but Hamfast had cut down the shaft to half its size to make it easier to manage.

“Alright Mister Bilbo?” Ham asked and Bilbo shook his head.

“We’re the only ones left in Hobbiton.” He whispered and Hamfast’s eyes filled with tears and his head listed against the back of the chair. “Ham? Ham! You need to stay awake! I’m going to fix your leg right up and then we’re going to use one of your ponies and ride to Tuckborough for help. I need your help, you’re have the best knowledge of herbs in the whole of the Shire. Tell me what I need to do.”

“Okay…” Ham hissed forcing his head up, he looked down at his wound and hissed again through his teeth. “The arrow needs to come out, it’s poisoned, but first, I need something to draw the poison out. Samwise!”

Sam jumped up and hurried over.

“Kingsfoil, we had some growing in with the dahlias, have you pulled it up yet?”

“No Da.”

“Bring it to us, it’ll draw the poison out.” Ham rasped and Sam was out of the door before Ham had finished his sentence. “We’ll need hot water, and something to bind the wound with.”

Bilbo hurried to the kitchen drawing a kettle full of water and heating it on the stove, thankful the embers of the stove’s fire were still glowing, all he had to do was throw a few more logs on and the fire blazed. He then ran to the airing cupboard and grabbed a handful of sheets. He hurried back to the living room and brought Marigold to sit down in front of her father.

“We’re going to rip these up okay?” She nodded and took the sheet from him and they began pulling them into strips. Sam was back just as the kettle started whistling.

“Samwise, get the kettle and pour the water into a large bowl with the Kingsfoil.” Hamfast’s voice was fading and Bilbo slapped his hand.

“Ham stay awake remember?” Ham nodded and snapped his eyes open, he was deathly pale and sweating buckets.

“You need to pull the arrow out and then bath the wound with the steeped Kingsfoil until the blood runs red.” Bilbo nodded, he knew that as soon as he pulled the arrow out the pain would make his friend collapse. “Then wrap the wound as tight as you can. It’ll have to do until we get to Tuckborough.”

“I’ve got it Mister Bilbo!” Sam hurried towards them, carefully carrying the stewing Kingsfoil. Bilbo thanked him and placed it down by his knees before taking hold of the arrow. Hamfast whimpered in pain and Bilbo paused, he looked around the room, his eyes landing on one of his gardener’s gloves, he grabbed it and turned it inside out before giving it to Hamfast to bite down on.

“Ready?” He asked and Ham nodded clenching his fists and breathing heavily past the leather.

Bilbo took hold of the arrow and counted to three in his head before pulling it sharply, the arrow was barbed but sharp enough that it ripped through Hamfast’s skin quickly. Ham screamed in pain around the glove before his body went limp and Bilbo was thankful for it.

He grabbed some of the sheets and soaked them in the Kingsfoil before quickly wiping away the puss and black blood that streamed from the wound. He heard Sam retching behind him but didn’t pay any attention; he had to fix his friend. It seemed to take an age before the wound finally ran red and Bilbo quickly wrapped the wound as tight and as neatly as he could.

He pulled Hamfast down to the floor and stuffed the remaining sheets under his leg to elevate it. Then he turned to Lobelia, thankfully her wound was something he could deal with. He had seen many broken limbs in his youth, Saradoc Brandybuck had once dared Paladin Took to climb the tallest tree in Buckland and Paladin had landed so badly that he had been bedridden for weeks.

Bilbo decided to do what needed to be done quickly, while Lobelia was still unconscious. He found a broom and broke it so the handle was the right length then he knelt down by Lobelia’s leg.

“Sam, Goldie, I need your help.” Samwise nodded and hurried over, he was pallid and had sick on his clothes but he looked firmer in his resolve. “I need you to sit on Miss Lobelia’s chest, hold her down and make sure she doesn’t move.”

They did as they were told and Bilbo quickly pulled Lobelia’s leg until it sat straight and the bone ground into a better position. He then wrapped the leg in a splint and sat back on his heels breathing heavily.

He was exhausted, his lungs hurt and his shoulder was burning.

“Mister Bilbo, do you want me to wash your shoulder?” He blinked up at Sam before shaking the dizziness from his vision.

“Yes, that would be nice. Thank you Sam.” His voice sounded detached, as if it wasn’t coming from his mouth. He was vaguely aware of Sam gathering what was left of the Kingsfoil solution and applying it to Bilbo’s shoulder before wrapping it with clumsy childish fingers. Bilbo closed his eyes against the pain. He was the best off of any of them. This pain was nothing to what Lobelia would be in when she woke, or Hamfast.

“Mister Bilbo?” He looked down at Marigold who had curled up in his lap. “Do you want me to kiss it better?”

A sobbing laugh escaped Bilbo’s throat and he pulled the young lass closer burying his face in her soft hair. She wrapped her arms around his neck and his laughter turned to sobs. Heavy, heaving sobs that ripped from his throat. Sam wrapped his short arms as far as he could around them and Bilbo slowly began to calm down. It was ridiculous, but he felt better, his mind felt clearer.

“Alright kids, we’ve got a lot to do before your Da and Miss Lobelia wake up. Why don’t you two be in charge of food, and I’ll be in charge of your clothes?” He herded them towards the pantry, thankfully it was away from the kitchen and the bedrooms so Bilbo could move the bodies before Marigold saw them.

He moved the orcs first. Dragging them took a lot of effort but Bilbo couldn’t bear to have them next to Bell any longer. He dragged them one by one towards Bag End, the fire was still raging fiercely and he threw their horrid corpses in amongst the flames, with the remnants of his belongings, they could burn there. He took a long break afterwards and was sure to clean the black blood from his person before he even dared to touch Bell and the girls.

He carefully wrapped them in individual white sheets and carried them out to the garden. There was a large fresh flower bed that Hamfast had dug out, beneath the old oak in their garden. Bell had been planning some bluebells and snowdrops; the ground was loose enough that it wasn’t difficult to dig three small graves. Then he carefully placed their bodies in, he dared not cover them again, waiting for their family to say goodbye. But most of the work was done; it was the last thing they would do before heading to Tuckborough.

He was just heading back into the Smial when he heard hooves upon the ground. He froze for a second before he threw himself into the bushes, he had never heard of orcs riding horses but he wanted to be sure. He peaked through the leaves and watched as a pony appeared with a single tiny rider upon its back. His eyes widened and he jumped from the bush. The pony startled, already panicked from a hard ride, its flanks were drenched in sweat and its eyes showed their whites.

“Frodo!” A tiny white face poked out from a multitude of blankets, framed by a mop of dark curls. His nephew’s eyes were wide and tears filled them quickly.

As soon as he got the pony calmed down he led it into the Gamgees’ backyard, tying it to the fence so it didn’t run away. They would use it to transport Hamfast and Lobelia, Bilbo was sure that Ham had a cart hidden around back somewhere. He pulled Frodo into his arms and hurried inside rubbing his hands up and down Frodo’s back; the lad was as cold as ice and shivering violently.

“Frodo, it’s okay you’re safe now.”

“Mister Frodo!” Sam ran forward a brilliant smile on his face and Bilbo was amazed that the lad could be so resilient, could bounce back so fast from seeing his family killed, to be so happy just to see his friend. Frodo often came to stay at Bag End, Drogo was by far his favourite cousin and Primula was one of his closest friends, and whenever they wanted some time to themselves as a couple Bilbo had Frodo for a day or so. The young boy loved Bag End, not least because it was closer to his friends.

“Frodo? Where are your parents?” He asked softly but Frodo didn’t respond aside from his fists tightening in Bilbo’s dressing gown. “It’s okay, you’re safe. I won’t let anything happen to you here.”

Frodo still said nothing, his eyes were wide and staring at something Bilbo couldn’t see, but he could only imagine it was how he had looked before Marigold had brought him out of his stupor. Something terrible must have happened at Buckland. His mind raced to thoughts of Primula and Drogo, but also to Esmeralda and Saradoc, they had been friends from a young age, much like Sam and Frodo. They had a young son a few years younger than Frodo and Sam; he could not help but wonder what had been their fates.

“Mister Bilbo, we sorted out the food, we made sure that everyone had a pile. Should we make one for Mister Frodo too?” Sam asked and Bilbo nodded standing with the children and heading towards the pantry. True to their word there were five piles of neatly arranged food placed delicately on five large handkerchiefs, enough for three meals each, though it would only take a few hours to reach Tuckborough Bilbo was glad that his distraction had kept the Gamgee children busy for as long as he had needed.

“That’s brilliant Sam, Goldie. Just what we needed. Now we just need to find some backpacks. Could you do that while I wrap the food up?” The fauntlings nodded and took off into the Smial. “Frodo, do you want something to eat?”

Frodo didn’t respond and Bilbo sighed before putting his nephew down gently, keeping one hand on his head of curls before tying up the rest of the food one handed.

Marigold and Sam returned in a few minutes and they helped pile the food into six separate backpacks, each of them stuffing some clothes and a few toys into their own backpacks and Bilbo smiled when he saw the small book that he had given Sam for his last birthday.

“Sam, do you think Frodo and I could borrow some clothes? I can’t very well travel to Tuckborough in my dressing gown can I?” Sam nodded earnestly and grabbed Bilbo’s hand leading him to their parents’ room.

“Da’s wardrobe is on the left, his clothes will be too big but Hamson and Halfred left some of their clothes behind so Ma…” Sam froze as if talking about his mother brought back all the flood of memories. Bilbo rested a hand on Sam’s hair.

“Thank you Sam. Can you and Goldie go find Frodo some clothes, any will do.” Sam nodded, tears filling his eyes before he strode from the room. Bilbo shook his own tears from his eyes before gently placing Frodo down on the mussed bed. Ham and Bell must have leapt from it when they heard the door get kicked in. He went to Hamfast’s wardrobe and found the clothes Sam had mentioned, carefully folded in two separate boxes.

He quickly changed into some of Hamson’s clothes, the lad had grown up to be about his height, if a bit bigger around the middle, but Bilbo could deal with the slight sag in the clothes, he wasn’t dressing to impress anyway.

Sam came back quickly with some clothes and Bilbo took them under his arm, and carried them and Frodo back out to the living room, he put Frodo down on the couch and asked Marigold to watch him before drawing Sam away to the pantry and giving him half of the backpacks before carrying the rest of the Smial. Sam gasped when he saw the flames of the burning Smials, which were finally starting to die away with the dawn’s light.

“Sam we need a cart, does your Da have one?” Sam nodded and led Bilbo around the back of the garden where Hamfast kept his tools. There was an old but usable cart, big enough for Lobelia and Hamfast to lie in together. He pulled it out and towards the pony which eyed him nervously, but which had calmed down significantly from before.

“Where did you find the pony Mister Bilbo?” Sam gasped reached a tentative hand out and the pony calmed significantly when Sam started petting it’s nose. Bilbo shook his head in amazement.

“It’s the horse Frodo rode here on.”

“Oh.” Sam frowned. “What’s his name?”

“I don’t know, maybe you can name him.” Sam’s eyes widened.

“Really?”

“Yeah, we can’t very well just go around calling him pony now can we. He needs a proper name.” Sam’s face scrunched up as he thought and Bilbo had to chuckle.

“…Bill.”

“Bill?” Bilbo asked and Sam nodded.

“Yep.”

“Okay the, Bill it is.” He shook his head bewildered at the odd name choice before setting up the harness around Bill’s shoulders. The pony shifted nervously at the extra weight but after a few carrots Bilbo had pilfered from the pantry, he calmed down and began grazing again.

“Mister Bilbo! Mister Bilbo! Da’s awake!” Bilbo looked up to see Marigold running towards them. “Da’s awake!”

Bilbo ran inside as fast as his hobbit feet would carry him.

True to her word, Hamfast was trying to sit himself up against his armchair.

“Ham!” He scolded before leaning down to give his friend a hand, Hamfast sighed once he was seated and stared down at his leg.

“That feels better.” He said frowning.

“It won’t do if you push yourself.” Bilbo frowned and Ham nodded.

“Sorry, it felt really disconcerting laying on the floor.” His gardener’s eyes glanced around the room, lingering on Lobelia and Frodo. “Frodo wasn’t here when I fainted?”

“No, he came on a pony… Ham, I think Buckland is gone too.” Ham closed his eyes in pain.

“So Primula and Drogo?”

“…I can’t think of any other reason they’d let Frodo go on his own.”

“Sweet Eru.” Ham ran his hands over his face. “We need to go for help.”

“Yes. But there’s something to do first.”

* * *

It was difficult to get Hamfast upright, and even more difficult to help him hop over to the flower bed without tripping or causing grievous damage to his leg. His children followed them sedately, until they were all stood around the three small graves.

Hamfast let out a soft cry and his hands grip tighter at Bilbo.

“My girls.” He whimpered and Bilbo drew his friend closer, motioning for the children to do the same. Marigold probably didn’t know what was going on, but Sam’s eyes were wide and his face pale as he gripped his father.

“I thought you would want to say goodbye.” Bilbo whispered and Hamfast nodded.

“Thank you. Thank you so much Mister Bilbo.” He cried. “Oh my girls. Why did this have to happen?”

They were silent for a long while, filled with nothing but Hamfast’s sobs and Sam’s quiet snuffles. After his sobs ran dry, Hamfast turned and Bilbo hurried to help him. He made his way to the cart and with some effort, lifted Hamfast until he was sat in the back with Sam and Marigold pressed up against him. Dawn had passed now and Bilbo looked to the shire. Most of the fires had now burnt out, but the ruins of the Smials were still smouldering, giving off bursts of black smoke.

He hurried back to the graves and filled them in as quick as he could before heading back into the Smial. He gathered Frodo into his arms and carried him outside before going back in for Lobelia. She moaned in his arms but had yet to wake. He lay her down beside Ham who frowned when he saw her leg.

“Do you want me to get anything for you from the Smial?” He asked but Hamfast shook his head, his eyes drifting over to the oak tree.

“Everything of value was either taken from me, or is already with me now.” Bilbo nodded before leading Bill out into the road, he glanced at Bag End and his fists clenched, his lovely green door was now nothing more than ash. “You should go, find something Mister Bilbo. Find anything to bring with you. If not, just say goodbye.”

Bilbo nodded and halted Bill before he climbed the small hill to his home. The orc corpses had been burnt to nothing, but the fire had died. His heart leapt to his throat when he saw the ruin.

Bag End was a darkened, smoke filled pit. His mother’s glory box was ash; his father’s pipe that had sat above the fireplace was warped out of shape. He walked slowly through his home, the home he had grown up in was gone. His father’s books, his mother’s quilts. Everything was just a pile of ash. The only thing he could find that wasn’t ruined beyond repair was a small teacup from his mother’s West Farthing China. It was blackened with smoke and ash but could be cleaned, the rest of the set was smashed. But this tea cup had survived.

He took it with him carefully and handed it to Hamfast to keep safe on the journey. Hamfast nodded and wrapped it in one of Sam’s shirts before tucking it in his breast pocket.

Bilbo didn’t look back, everything he once was, was now gone. He couldn’t focus on what he had lost. He needed to be strong for Frodo, for Hamfast and Lobelia. For Samwise and Marigold. He would keep them safe, no matter what.


	2. Tuckborough

They weren’t even halfway to Tuckborough when Lobelia woke up, and when she woke it was with a screech that could have woken the dead. Bilbo drew his kitchen knife from where he had stuck it in his belt, half expecting to find a pack of orcs behind him. But there was nothing.

“My leg!” She shrieked, she sat up and stared around her with wide eyes. “Where’s Otho? Bilbo Baggins! You tell me where my husband is right now!”

“Lobelia…” He held his hands up, trying to calm her but she would not be calmed.

“No! I told you to go back for him! Where is he?” Her eyes kept roving around her, desperately searching for her husband. Hamfast grasped her arm tightly to stop her from trying to climb from the cart.

“Miss Lobelia, you’ve got a broken leg. You need to be practical.”

“Practical? You want me to be practical!? We were attacked by orcs Hamfast! Orcs! There is no sense left in the world! What did we ever do to them? To anyone!? We are a peaceful people! Why did they attack us!?” Her voice was steadily rising in pitch.

“Miss Lobelia please calm down, you’re scaring the fauntlings.” She turned her glare to the children.

“The fauntlings! Oh yes I should worry about scaring the fauntlings! I have lost my husband! My home! Everything I own gone! But I should worry about the fauntlings!” A sharp slap rang out and the hobbits gaped at Bilbo whose face was set like stone.

“You have lost all those things yes. And I am so very sorry about Otho. But you are not the only one who has lost someone. Ham lost Bell and Daisy and May. Lobelia. We are alive. That is what matters. If you want to leave, to go back to that burnt out husk of a village, well I won’t stop you. But we need help. So Ham and I are going to Tuckborough with the fauntlings whether you’re coming with us or not.” Lobelia just turned her face away. “I am sorry that I hurt you Bee.”

Her upper lip trembled at the nickname he had not used since they were Frodo and Sam’s age. She hadn’t used to be so unpleasant, but once they hit their tweens and her infatuation with Bilbo’s wretched cousin Otho had begun, she had taken on all of her husband’s views about how Bilbo should not have the wealth and power of the Baggins name since he was half Took. She had become petty and shrewd and was constantly trying to steal his silver spoons, but underneath all of that Bilbo had always seen his friend from his childhood and as Bilbo had never been in love he could never hold it against Lobelia that she had absorbed her husband’s way of thinking.

“Why don’t you all have something to eat? We’ll be there in a couple of hours, and we all missed our breakfasts.” Bilbo tried to smile at her but it faded halfway and she just nodded in silence, keeping her lips firmly pressed together.

Sam and Hamfast started setting up a small picnic in the back of the cart as they rolled on down the hill.

Bilbo was aching with exhaustion, he hadn’t slept since the night before, and there was a buzzing between his ears that he had never quite felt before. His feet were two stubs of pain, and his shoulder hurt every time he moved his arm too far in any direction.  But he pushed on. He was the only able-bodied hobbit among them. He could only hold onto the thought that they would be at Tuckborough in a few hours and then he could rest. Paladin would stuff them full of food and then send them off to bed after getting one of the healers to sort out Ham’s wound and Lobelia’s leg.

When Hamfast handed him a sandwich he choked it down despite how dry his mouth was, it tasted like sawdust but, intellectually he knew it would help even if his body revolted against the taste.

* * *

 

Bilbo could smell it before he saw it. The smoke. For a few seconds he thought that maybe he was hallucinating from tiredness, reliving last night. But then his eyes caught on the smoke rising on the horizon.

“No…” He whispered before he shoved Bill’s reigns into Sam’s hands. “Wait here. If there’s any trouble run back to Hobbiton.”

“Bilbo!?” Ham called but Bilbo was already running.

“I have to help!”

He reached Tuckborough in less than ten minutes; the visage that greeted him was achingly familiar. Smoke pouring out of all the Smials, it was hauntingly silent and Bilbo slowed to a walk. He crept into the Smial nearest to him but found no one living.

It was a cruel imitation of last night. He ran from Smial to Smial hoping against hope to find someone, anyone alive. Most of the time there weren’t even bodies, so hot had burned the flames.

He was covered in ash and soot by the time he reached the Great Smials. His mother’s childhood home, that Bilbo had visited often in his childhood, it stood in ruins. The doors were caved in and scorched by the flames. He entered through the main entrance, and made his way through the Smials.

The further in he got the more signs he saw of the Tooks fighting back. He saw what had once been barricades of furniture that were now piles of blackened wood. A Took cousin with a blade in their hand, their body now unidentifiable as nothing other than a hobbit.

He had just reached Gerontious Took’s Smial when he heard it. The sound of voices. He ran towards the sound. They were alive. Somebody was alive.

He found a tall metal door that he hadn’t even known had existed, it was probably of Gerontious’ invention, the old hobbit had been paranoid at the best of times. It looked dwarf-made, and beyond it he heard voices.

“Hello!? Please! Open the door!” He yelled and all of the voices stopped at once. “Please! I need help!”

“Blessed Yavanna! Is that Bilbo Baggins I hear!?” The door made a horrid scraping sound as it was drawn inwards and Bilbo’s mouth dropped open when he saw who was behind it.

“Esmeralda!” He cried, he had thought his cousin had perished in Buckland with Frodo’s parents. “You’re alive!”

He looked beyond her and his mouth dropped.

“Doc! Pal! You’re all alive!” Esmeralda gathered him into her arms and clutched him so tightly he found it difficult to breath, but he was clinging to her just as tightly.

“Oh Bilbo, don’t tell us they went through Hobbiton?” Saradoc whispered and Bilbo nodded.

“And Buckland. I thought you dead.” Esmeralda collapsed back against a chair.

“Buckland? You’re sure?” She whispered drawing her young son, Merry closer to her.

“Frodo came riding in on a pony, he has yet to speak a word but I cannot see that Prim would have sent him alone unless there was no other choice.” Soft cries filled the air as Saradoc wrapped his arms around his wife and child.

Bilbo meanwhile took in the rest of the survivors. Along with Saradoc, Esmeralda and their son, Paladin and his wife Eglantine were both alive, though she had a horrid gash about her forehead and he a broken arm. Their three daughters; Pearl, Pimpernel and Pervinca; triplets, only just into their tweens were gathered in one corner, surrounding their little brother who was unconscious.

“Pippin?” He asked and Paladin’s face grew sombre.

“One of the orcs threw him against a wall. If Pim hadn’t have been there to grab him he would have died. Best we can tell he’s got a lot of broken ribs but we’re more worried about his head, he’s got a bump the size of an apple on the back of it.” He said and Bilbo grasped his friend’s shoulder.

“You said Frodo had come from Buckland. Where is he? Please don’t tell me…” Esmeralda trailed off and Bilbo shook his head.

“No, he’s alive. There are only a few of us. Hamfast and his two youngest, and Lobelia. Hamfast and Lobelia are injured so I left them with the cart up the road. We’re the only ones left.” The hobbits around him cradled their heads in grief.

“…What are we going to do Papa?” Pearl whispered. “Everything’s been burnt down. Everyone’s gone… We can’t stay here.”

“We’ll… we’ll.” Paladin trailed off. “I don’t know. I don’t know what can be done.”

“We need help.” Bilbo said firmly. “I went through all the Smials on my way here, there aren’t any survivors, but there may be more in the outlying farms. We need to gather all who are left. Then we need to leave.”

“Leave!?”

“Are you insane!?”

“We can’t leave the shire!” Bilbo glared at all of them until they fell silent.

“You have not been outside. You don’t know what waits for you outside. There’s too much damage, we can’t stay here until we have help to rebuild.” Bilbo paused, all eyes were on him. “And that means we have two options. West or East. We can either go East to Bree, but that is the direction the orcs came from, there may be many more on their way. Or we go west, to the dwarves in the Blue Mountains.”

“The Blue Mountains?” Saradoc scoffed. “Why should the dwarves help us? They probably don’t even realise we exist.”

“My mother used to tell me stories of a time before the Blue Mountains were recolonized. Far to the east there was a mountain, Erebor which was taken by a dragon. The dwarves were driven from their home and made a new one in the Blue Mountains. Perhaps the dwarves will help us, they know what it is to lose their homes, their loved ones.” The story of the Lonely Mountain had been his favourite as a child and his mother had never refused to tell it to him, no matter how many times he had asked for it.

The hobbits around him were silent and Bilbo sighed.

“Before we do anything I need to go back for the others. I’ll bring them here.” Paladin shook his head and Bilbo frowned.

“If we are going to leave for help. We best do it fast. There’s no point in loitering about. Girls, grab everything you can that serviceable to take with us. Egg, Essie, see what you can do about finding some ponies. Old Took had a few next to Bettie Proudfoot’s field. See if they’ve run off. Doc, help me make a sling or a litter to carry Pippin with. We should move him as little as possible.”

Bilbo was suddenly reminded why Paladin had been elected as Thain of the Shire, he too often remembered a fool of a Took who would accept bets to climb the highest trees. But Paladin could be forceful and sombre when need be. He was probably the most level-headed hobbit in the whole of the Shire. Bilbo was grateful for that now.

It took them less than half an hour to get everything arranged between them.

In Gerontious’ panic room there were lots of pickled foods, a few blankets but little else. So once the girls had picked clean the room they ventured out into the main Smial. When they came back they had tear tracks on their filthy faces but they looked stronger, more firm in their resolve. They had found a few things that would come in handy, a few kitchen knives, two frying pans. Things that could be used as weapons.

“Don’t you worry Pip, Mister Bilbo’s looking after us. He saved Sam and Frodo. And Miss Lobelia and Mister Hamfast. We’re going on an adventure Pip. Just like all those one’s Mister Bilbo tells us about. But you’ve got to wake up first, ‘cause me and Frodo and Sam don’t want to do it without you. You’re the best shot of all of us. Even if you _are_ the littlest.” Bilbo felt a fist clench around his heart when he caught ear of Merry’s rant to Pippin. The boys had been inseparable since Pippin had been born. Bilbo couldn’t remember seeing them apart in the last few years. They were always sleeping at one another’s houses, or at his own with Frodo and Sam.

“Don’t worry Merry. Pippin will be fine. I bet he’s just being a drama queen like normal.” Pippin had learnt from a young age that tears got you sympathy and treats. So he would often stub his toe and fall about in fits of tears. Bilbo of course, had never given in to such blatant crocodile tears and Pippin had never tried the move on him again.

“Yeah, he’s such a cry-baby.” Merry snorted, but his hand never stopped its gentle stroking over golden curls.

“Ready to go?” Bilbo asked once everyone was back in the room.

“Yes, we managed to find three ponies, and a cart to fit with one of them.” Eglantine said and Paladin nodded. He and Saradoc lifted Pippin gently onto the litter they had arranged for him before lifting it slowly onto their shoulders.

They headed out of the Smials, Bilbo making sure to keep Merry’s eyes shielded from the horrific sights and after Pippin had been gently laid into the cart they were on the road.

* * *

 

“Mister Bilbo!” Bilbo looked up to see Sam and Marigold running towards him, a wide grin on their faces. “You found more people! Merry! You’re alive!”

The two young boys ran into each other so hard that Bilbo flinched at the loud smack it caused, but their happiness spread and Bilbo found himself smiling. Hamfast and Lobelia were still in the cart but they looked unimpressed with him.

“We’d given you up for dead.” Lobelia sniffed and Bilbo smiled sheepishly.

“I found them; I couldn’t very well leave them.” He said and Ham nodded. His eyes fell to Pippin’s prone body and he frowned.

“What ails young Master Pippin?” He asked.

“He was thrown against a wall, he’s been badly injured.” Bilbo said.

“Let me see him, help me into that cart.” Bilbo glanced down at Ham’s leg and frowned, blood had seeped through the makeshift bandage, it would need to be redone before long. “As you said last night Mister Bilbo, I have the greatest knowledge of herbs and injuries in the Shire. Let me observe the boy.”

Bilbo sighed but with Saradoc’s help lifted Hamfast into Pippin’s cart. Hamfast spent a few minutes gently feeling Pippin’s ribs and around the back of his head. He pursed his lips and thought for a moment before turning to Sam and Merry.

“Boys. Do you know what Colt’s Foot looks like?” Sam nodded and Hamfast nodded. “I need you to gather some for me, and some willow bark from that tree we passed a while back.”

Sam and Merry nodded and ran off.

“What will those do?” Eglantine asked.

“Colt’s Foot will help ease his breathing, I’ll mix it into a poultice and wrap his chest with it, though not too tightly, I don’t want to encourage the ribs to heal wrong. Willow bark is for the pain. I’ll steep it into a tea and let it cool for when he wakes. There’s nothing to be done for his head, it is not an open wound, for which I am thankful. All we can do is wait and see how the injury took it’s toll when he wakes.”

Bilbo was grateful that Hamfast didn’t say ‘if’, he couldn’t bear the thought of losing Pippin, after everything they had all been through, to lose one so very young, who had held on so long, it would ruin them.

While they waited for the boys to come back Esmeralda made a small fire to heat the tea and the poultice with. Bilbo sat down beside Frodo who was watching everyone in silence, he was no longer vacant, but he had yet to speak.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Frodo shrugged. “Still don’t feel up to talking?... That’s okay, sometimes it’s nice to just sit in silence for a while, it helps you to think through everything.”

Frodo’s eyes were fixed on Pippin and Bilbo grasped his nephew’s hand.

“Don’t worry, he’ll be okay. Hamfast said so, and is Sam’s Gaffer ever wrong?” Frodo didn’t respond so Bilbo just squeezed his hand gently. “We’ve decided to go to the Blue Mountains, to see the dwarves. It’ll be just like when the dwarves left Erebor.”

It was Frodo’s favourite story too. Bilbo fell silent for a while, just soaking in the presence of his nephew.

Sam and Merry were back soon, with a small bouquet of yellow flowers and handfuls of willow bark. Hamfast already had water boiling so he slowly dropped the bark in before crushing the flowers with his hands and laying the resulting mush into a bowl that Pim had found amongst the rubble of the Great Smials.

He added a little water to it, but mixed it with his finger until it turned into a thick goo. He then unbuttoned Pippin’s shirt and with gentle hands spread it onto the boy’s chest. Pippin groaned and everyone’s breath caught, but he did not wake.

“See I told you he’d be fine!” Merry declared and everyone smiled, it was the first sign of life they had had from Pippin.

Once Hamfast had done all he could for Pippin and had Bilbo change his own bandage, they moved on. It would take them a few weeks to reach the great dwarven city, the sooner they left, the sooner they would reach their destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, they will meet some dwarfs in the next chapter I promise.


	3. Arriving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say thank you! The reaction I've been getting to this fic is overwhelming! All the comments and reviews have really inspired me to write more! I don't think I've ever written so many chapters so close together before! 
> 
> So thanks everyone for that! The next chapter will be up soon!

The journey was the hardest thing the hobbits had ever had to face before, even the Fell Winter with its aching cold, vicious wolves and clawing hunger hadn’t felt so hard as this journey, for they had weathered that winter together, with the whole of the Shire. This, with only the fifteen of them left. It was too difficult.

Seven days into their journey Hamfast had fallen unconscious and had not woken since, he often stirred in his sleep and muttered indiscernible things, most often the names of his wife and children, but his wound had grown infected, had turned red and swollen and no amount of cleansing and changed bandages seemed to help. His temperature was so high that Bilbo worried that if he did wake his mind would be affected, changed in ways they couldn’t fix.

His own shoulder was infected, he could feel it with every twist of his arm, and the slightest nudge sent burning down his spine. But he didn’t mention it; they all had enough to worry about without adding him to their list. He pushed through the pain; he would worry about himself when he had time to.

Pippin had yet to wake, the children kept a constant vigil by his bedside and Bilbo could see the toll it was taking on them to see their friend so injured, it felt like a physical pain to see their drawn, pale faces creased with worry.

Hunger was their constant companion, even during the Fell Winter Bilbo had never felt hunger like this, then, they had rationed the food well and it had lasted until the very last days when the rangers had come through, but now, all of their stores had been burned by the orcs so they had to forage for what they could and Paladin and Esmeralda used a couple of kitchen knives to bring down some birds and rabbits, but it wasn’t enough. They gave what they could to the children, and thinned down the soup as much as possible.

The despair was the worst thing, the loss of hope. Bilbo no longer thought of the farms they might reach, the hobbits they could find alive because he had yet to find any. The farms they had passed had all been burned out husks, the hobbits burned inside of them.

He was constantly on edge, he rarely slept, choosing instead to keep watch, every time he closed his eyes he heard the screams of his neighbours, smelled the smoke on the air, saw his friends lying dead in the mud. It was easier to just numb himself to it all, to push himself until he had no choice but to sleep.

After two weeks of travel he had realised that he had never seen hobbits look so slim before, even Hamfast who worked hard and long all day had always had plenty to eat, and had had a small stomach to show for it. But now, they were wasting away, their clothes hung off of them, their cheekbones stood in stark contrast to their eyes. They would not last much longer. It was amazing that they had lasted this long.

* * *

It was almost four weeks after the raid that they arrived at the gates of the Blue Mountains; they had been in the range’s shadow for a few days but it had felt like they were never getting any closer to it. Hamfast’s mutterings had stopped and he was deathly pale and silent in the back of the cart. Lobelia had taken to wiping the sweat from his brow constantly. Pippin was a slip of what he had used to be, he had never been largest of hobbits and he had shrunk in his illness.

The gates were closed before them and for a few long minutes they stood in silence, not believing that they had actually reached their goal.

“H-How do we get them to open?”  Bilbo startled at Saradoc’s croaked voice, they had not spoken all day, conserving as much of their energy as possible. Bilbo studied the gates; they were huge, much larger than any race in Middle Earth would ever need. Made of stone and carved with such beautiful designs, nothing as delicate as what was found in the Shire or amongst man and elves, they were strong, angular markings that he was sure said something, but he could not understand them. Flanking the doors were two large statues of dwarven warriors with strong, resolute faces. He moved closer and pressed his forehead against the cool stone trying to think.

“Hello!?” Paladin’s voice broke when he shouted. His face was drawn and his eyes hard, Pippin’s condition had been hardest on him, who was so like his son in so many ways. “Hello? Can anyone hear us!?”

As if Paladin’s voice had broken a spell over the group they all started shouting. Bilbo screamed until his voice went hoarse. They had come all this way. They couldn’t give up now. It had to open. It had to.

They screamed until they could scream no more and Bilbo collapsed to his knees. He had killed them all. He had brought them to their deaths.

He felt a small hand on his shoulder and didn’t even flinch at the pain; he turned to see Frodo frowning down at him, tears trailing down his cheeks. He drew his nephew into a hug, and sobbed, grieving for this little boy who had seen so much death that he couldn’t even speak anymore, yet would still come to comfort his uncle. He held Frodo so tightly he knew that marks must be appearing where his fingers dug in but Frodo did not pull away; he just clutched tighter back at his uncle.

“I’m so sorry.” He looked up at all of his friends, all of whom were clutching at each other desperately. “I am so very sorry.”

“…Don’t be ridiculous.” Bilbo looked up at the sharp voice, Lobelia was glaring at him. She had once been quite a beautiful hobbit, with luscious curves and golden curls that had shone brightly, now her cheeks were hollow and her hair was limp, her body was flat beneath her clothes, but her eyes were still bright, they still shone with life. “You saved us Bilbo Baggins, never forget that. You dragged us from our burning houses, you killed for us. You did everything you thought best and we followed you because we knew it was best. So don’t you dare. Don’t you dare say that you are sorry.”

Bilbo looked to each of his friends in turn and they all nodded at him, still fierce beneath their hunger, beneath their pain and Bilbo felt weak in his gratitude, in his relief that they didn’t hate him.

A sudden loud grating sound had them all jumping, Bilbo leapt to his feet and grabbed Frodo up in his arms pulling him away from the doors as, to their disbelieving eyes, and they swung open. The hobbits stood shell-shocked for a very long moment, as if time itself had stopped. But then a small group of dwarves were rushing towards them.

“I cannot believe that there are hobbits at our doors! I haven’t seen hobbits in an age!” Bilbo blinked in shock, the dwarf that had spoken was in front of the others, he had golden hair and a resplendent beard both of which were braided into intricate patterns. “Welcome friends, we heard you yelling but these doors have not been opened for many years so it took a while to get them moving.”

The dwarves shifted nervously when none of the hobbits said anything, they were saved. They had been saved.

“…I…” Bilbo’s voice had suddenly dried up. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes before trying again. “We… We need help. Our friends are injured, we… we couldn’t go anywhere else.”

The golden dwarf grinned brightly at him.

“Well you came to the right place friend. We’ll have you all fixed up in no time.” The dwarf clapped his hand down on Bilbo’s bad shoulder and he stumbled and fell to the ground from the sudden blinding pain. Everything that had been holding himself together suddenly unravelled and black spots clouded his vision. He heard so many voices call his name, but only one stood out.

“Uncle Bilbo!” His eyes closed just as he saw Frodo’s worried blue gaze appear above him.

* * *

 

Bilbo came back slowly, in bits and pieces. He was lying in a bed, which was the first thing he realised, a soft bed with a duvet and pillows. The smell came next, a sharp sterile scent that had him remembering his mother’s medicine cabinet. Sounds came next.

“…didn’t even tell us he was injured…”

“…must have got infected like Ham’s.”

“We owe so much to him.”

“…Pal?” He murmured and the voices halted abruptly before they all came back at once. He blinked open his eyes and found himself surrounded by the worried stares of his hobbits. “What happened?”

He tried to sit up but was pressed down by a multitude of different hands.

“You being an idiot is what happened Bilbo Baggins.” Bilbo turned his gaze to Lobelia who was glaring down her nose at him. “Honestly, what sort of fool thinks it a good idea to leave his wound unattended? Really it was most definitely the Took blood in you that caused such recklessness, for I know no Baggins would be so idiotic.”

“Okay I get it.” He chuckled before shifting under his friends’ hands. “Can I sit up please?”

Saradoc helped him to sit while Esmeralda piled cushions behind his back to hold him upright. He took the time to look around his surroundings. He was most definitely in some sort of Healing Ward, it had many beds laid out in rows along the walls. Hamfast and Pippin took up the beds closest to him, and even from this distance Bilbo could see the pallor of Hamfast’s skin had been replaced by a rosy complexion. The other children were curled up around Pippin in his bed, fast asleep.

“How long have I been out?” He asked.

“An hour at most.” Eglantine stated and his eyes widened.

“But Ham looks so much better!” He exclaimed.

“Ah yes that would be my doing.” Bilbo jumped and turned to face the gruff voice. A dwarf was standing hidden amongst a desk filled with different potions and vials. He had wiry grey hair and a beard twisted into two salt and pepper plaits. He had a hearing horn just like the one old Gerontious had used and it was pointing in his direction. “Both you and the lad had blood poisoning from the orc blades that struck you, it is lucky that your friend had some knowledge of healing and the properties of Kingsfoil or you would have both died within days.”

“Oh… thank you.” Bilbo said and the dwarf shrugged.

“It’s my job laddie.” The dwarf grunted before leaving the room.

“His name’s Óin. He’s quite nice once you get past the gruffness.” Esmeralda said and Bilbo raised an eyebrow at her. “I introduced myself to him once he was done treating all of you.”

“You won’t believe what you missed Bilbo! It was the Prince that came out to greet us!” Saradoc crowed and Bilbo’s eyes widened.

“What?” He squeaked, oh he would never live this down; he had passed out in front of royalty.

“Yeah! And the head of the royal guard was there too. God I have never seen such a scary looking being in all my life, with all the tattoos and those knuckledusters.” Paladin shook his head in awe. “He was amazing though, he’s the one that carried you here.”

“Okay, so not only did I faint but I was carried like a tween.” Bilbo groaned and Eglantine shook her head.

“Oh no Bilbo, you were injured, I’m sure none of the dwarves would hold it against you.”

“Yeah, I mean no one can blame you for fainting at the sight of our uncle.” The hobbits jumped at being caught gossiping and turned to face the door where two, young looking dwarves were grinning widely at them.

“Yeah, Uncle Frerin is fearsome on the best of days, and ugly besides!” The blonde haired one laughed loudly before stumbling into the room as he was pushed from behind. The golden dwarf from before entered behind him, followed by a dark haired dwarf, this one Bilbo was pretty sure was female, she wasn’t wearing a dress but Bilbo was sure he could see the hint of curves beneath her tunic, and she had kohl outlining her eyes, not that Bilbo was sure that male dwarves didn’t use kohl. He flushed when the dwarrowdam noticed him looking.

“Mind your tongue, you’re not too young to be put over my knee.” The prince glowered and the two younger dwarves just grinned.

“Please, like Mother would let you!” The dark haired one crowed, turning pleading eyes to the she-dwarf who just shrugged.

“You are of age now, I am no longer bound to protect you, if Frerin thinks you need a spanking then who am I to stop him.” The young dwarfs let out anguished cries at this and started pawing at their mother begging for her to protect them. The Prince, Frerin, just rolled his eyes and came closer to the hobbits.

“Hey Bilbo, they remind you of anyone?” Saradoc ‘discretely’ pointed to his wife and her brother who gasped affronted and Bilbo laughed, he had just been thinking the same thing, Esmeralda and Paladin had used to act so similar to those dwarfs that it was eerie.

“Please ignore my nephews, they are idiots. Master Baggins I believe, please let me introduce myself formally. I am Prince Frerin of Ered Luin, or as you call it the Blue Mountains, second in line to the throne and the _most handsome_ dwarf in all of the kingdoms.” He said the last part pointedly glaring at his nephews who just grinned sheepishly as they straightened their clothes and hurried forwards. “This is my sister the Princess Dís, third in line to the throne and her idiot sons Fili and Kili.”

“Idiots! We’re not idiots!” The dark haired one exclaimed.

“Sorry which one is which?” Bilbo asked and the young dwarves leapt forward.

“I am Kili.” The dark haired one chirped.

“And I’m Fili.”

“At your service.” They bowed to the group of hobbits and Bilbo smiled at them, they really did remind him of a younger Esmeralda and Paladin.

“We are forever at yours.” Paladin bowed low for all of them. “You have helped us more than we could ever imagine and have saved the lives of our friends and child. We are in your debt.”

The dwarfs all looked shocked and Bilbo was surprised to see Dís glare at Paladin.

“We did not help to be in your debt. You think so little of us that we would leave any to die outside our walls? That we would leave a child to die?” The hobbits all frowned at the anger in her tone.

“I meant no offence. I only meant to convey my endless gratitude.” Paladin said and the other hobbits nodded to back up his words, the she-dwarf nodded, seemingly accepting his apology.

“Now that all the introductions are out of the way, I was wondering if you could tell us how a group of fifteen hobbits came to collapse at our oldest and most unused door?” Frerin asked and Bilbo glanced at his friends in confusion, they noticed his stare.

“We were a bit preoccupied with saving your life to worry about stories.” Eglantine glared at him and he blushed.

“Surely it wasn’t that bad.” He winced when the entirety of the hobbits glared at him.

“Óin said if we have gotten here even a day later it would have been too late to save you.” Lobelia snapped and he looked down at the sheets, he honestly hadn’t realised it was that bad, he had only wanted to get everyone to safety.

He looked back up and was surprised at the suddenly overwhelmingly sad look on all of their faces, he flushed red when he realised he had said that last thought outloud.

“Oh Bilbo…” Saradoc sighed. “You idiotic Took of a Baggins.”

Esmeralda and her brother, uncaring of the royal company they held, just climbed straight into the bed beside him and cuddled up at his sides, while their spouses each clutched at one of his hands and even Lobelia grasped at his ankle through the sheet.

Once they were all seemingly settled they turned to face their dwarven company with straight backs, if with wet eyes.

“The Shire is gone.” A soft gasp escaped Dís’ mouth at the declaration.

“What do you mean gone?” Fili demanded.

“There was a pack of orcs, they came in the night and attacked us in a wave. Buckland went first, then they came across the river and burned Hobbiton before moving onto Tuckborough and beyond. We were the only survivors we could find.” Paladin said, his hand searching out his wife’s.

“An orc pack?” Frerin asked incredulous as he turned to his sister. “Why would they go through the Shire? The hobbits have always been a peaceful people.”

“Our scouts have mentioned an increase in orc activity on our borders but we thought nothing of it. We should have sent for more intel.” Dís looked furious, and Bilbo had to look away from the fierce look on her face. “We give you our word that we will find the ones who did this.”

“Thank you.” Lobelia said and Bilbo looked between the two females for a moment, thinking how similar they looked despite their different features, their eyes both held that firm glint, that spark.

“Uncle Bilbo!” Bilbo turned at the squeak to see Merry leaping from the pile of children and hurrying over to the adults, his feet making quiet slapping noises on the stone floor. “We all thought you were dead!”

“Hello Merry, I’m fine I promise.” He smiled at the young boy who put his hands on his hips and glared at him.

“Don’t do that again, poor Frodo got awfully upset, he wouldn’t let go of you until he fell asleep.” Merry reprimanded him and Bilbo looked over to where his nephew was still curled amongst the children.

“Did he…?” Surely it couldn’t have been his imagination.

“He called for you when you collapsed.” Saradoc said grinning widely. “It was the only thing he said, and it was only once, but it’s something right?”

“Yes, most definitely something.” Bilbo sighed.

Merry squeaked when he realised that they were not alone in the room and hid behind his father’s legs peeking out occasionally. The dwarfs chuckled and Fili and Kili seemed so excited at seeing the hobbit child that they were squirming where they stood, only held in place by their mother’s hands in the back of their tunics.

Fili gave Merry a little wave the next time he popped his head out and Merry frowned, studying the prince for a while.

“Dad? They’re dwarfs.” He hissed and the dwarfs laughed louder at that.

“Aye, that we are little one.” Dís smiled, charmed by the fauntling’s behaviour. “You should know you are the first group of hobbits my sons have ever seen so they would like to say hello.”

She let go of the dwarfs who hurried over and fell to their knees in front of Merry, Merry’s eyes widened and he stared at them.

“Look Fili! He’s so tiny!” Kili squealed and Fili nodded, his eyes wide.

“And he’s got such curly hair, they all do.” Fili mock whispered. “Do you think they eat the crusts on their bread like Mother used to tell us, remember that? The crusts would make our hair curly.”

“I do too eat all my bread!” Merry seemed insulted that the two dwarfs seemed the think that he would waste food, and quite rightly so, a hobbit never left food on his plate, be it the crusts of his bread or not.

“Of course you do Master Hobbit, we meant it as nothing other than a compliment! You see my brother here wanted curly hair when he was a dwarfling, so badly in fact that he refused to eat anything but the crusts of his bread for three whole days!” Fili whispered to Merry who grinned as Kili let out an affronted noise.

“You did it too!” He complained and Merry giggled.

Bilbo turned from the ridiculously adorable sight to the prince who was shaking his head fondly at his nephews.

“We thank you for your warm welcome, but if you’re the prince surely you must have work to do? You don’t have to stay and entertain us… uh… your highness.” Bilbo said haltingly and Frerin rolled his eyes.

“Please! You are the first hobbits to enter these halls we are going to give you all the welcome we think it merits!” Frerin winked at him. “Plus our older brother has always been much more the workaholic type than us, he wouldn’t even spare two minutes to come say hello.”

Frerin pouted but Dís hit him over the head.

“Please, you know Thorin wanted to come see them as much as we did, but he’s dealing with the Bluefoots today and you know how they’ll react if they don’t get all the attention on them while they’re dealing.” She muttered. “Besides, he’s invited all of you to the family meal this evening so he can meet you all formally.”

“Oh, uh, that’s very nice and everything, but...” Eglantine trailed off, blushing to the roots of her hair when the gaze of all the royals turned to her. The hobbits looked awkwardly at each other, they all knew it to be terribly rude to decline a dinner invitation.

“It’s just we would rather all stay together until our friend and son are back on their feet.” Paladin said and the other hobbits nodded backing him up.

“Oh of course, why didn’t we think of that!” Frerin said hitting his head. “We’ll bring the dinner here! That way you can all rest with your friends while still indulging our curiosities.”

“That’s very kind of you. We are looking forward to it.” Lobelia nodded her head regally and Bilbo had to wonder if she had been a royal in a past life.

“Alright then, now that that’s decided, we’ll let you get some rest. Boys!” Dís snapped and her sons looked up complaining, they had been playing patty cake with Merry but Dís just grabbed her sons by the ears and dragged them from the room. Frerin followed them all laughing loudly all the way.

The hobbits sat in stunned silence for a few long minutes, slightly shell shocked.

“I cannot believe that was the royal family.” Eglantine muttered and they all hummed in agreement.


	4. Trolls and Ones

“Now don’t chug this down, you need to pace yourselves.” Bilbo nodded at Óin even as his mouth filled with saliva at the wonderful smell steaming from the top of the large pot of stew. “I mean it laddie, there’s no use in eating anything if you’re just going to throw it back up again.”

A few dwarfs had come in a while ago and set up a long table in the middle of the Healing Ward and then a few more had come in with a large pot of stew and a few loaves of bread. It was the most delicious thing Bilbo had ever smelt before.

But, he ignored his body’s urges and first dealt out bowls of stew for all of the fauntlings.

“Remember what Mister Óin said Frodo, eat it slowly.” Frodo nodded but Bilbo wasn’t expecting much, the fauntling was eyeing the bowl of stew like it a ravenous wolf.

Something eased in Bilbo’s chest when he saw the children eat, soothed a worry that had stayed coiled in his stomach. He then quickly dealt out bowls of stew for all the adults and they sat down with the fauntlings and ate.

Mealtimes were social affairs in the Shire, if you had company around for food then there was conversation, songs and lots of laughter, Bilbo had never had such a silent meal that wasn’t by himself before. The hobbits were all completely absorbed in their food.

Bilbo’s hand shook with the effort it took not to gulp the food down. Even as his stomach clenched at the first touch with such rich food. As it was he was only able to finish half his bowl and a few mouthfuls of bread before his belly felt uncomfortably tight.

“Mister Bilbo, my belly hurts.” Marigold complained and Bilbo smiled weakly at her, he himself felt slightly sick.

“It’s because you haven’t eaten properly in a while Goldie. Give it a few meals and you’ll be right as rain.” Bilbo couldn’t help his wide smile when she started poking it as if to study what could possibly be wrong that food would hurt to eat.

Bilbo took a spare bowl of stew and made his way over to Hamfast’s bed, he perched beside his friend and carefully began dribbling some of the juices into his friend’s mouth. He could only hope it wouldn’t be long before Ham woke, he and Hamfast had spoken everyday back in the Shire, even if only for a few minutes. Ham was a comfort from home he missed terribly, the steady comfort of Ham’s straightforward thinking, his common sense attitude to everything. Bilbo had to blink back tears thinking about how close they had come to death.

He glanced over at Pippin’s still form on the other bed; the fauntling hadn’t moved from where he was laid, Óin hadn’t been able to tell them if Pippin would wake. The only thing they could do was keep feeding him what they could to keep his strength up and pray to Yavanna to do the rest.

Too soon the quiet from the small luncheon faded and the fauntlings were bouncing off the walls with energy they hadn’t had in weeks.

After the third time that Marigold and Merry had ran around the room Bilbo clapped his hands and pointed to Pippin’s bed.

“Come now, let’s all calm down and I’ll tell a story.” The fauntlings cheered and ran to Pippin’s bed, Frodo curled up in Bilbo’s lap and Bilbo grinned when even Pearl, Pim and Pervinca sat up to listen to him. He _was_ a very good story teller, if he did say so himself.

“Right, which one should I start with then?” He mused grinned at Merry who was practically bouncing in his seat. “Do you have any ideas Meriadoc?”

“Yes! Yes! Can you tell the troll story? It’s Pippin’s favourite!” Bilbo made a big show of sighing and humming and hawing but eventually to a chorus of cheers from the fauntlings, he nodded.

“Alright then, this is the story of how I saved Paladin and Esmeralda from three ferocious trolls.” Paladin groaned loudly.

“Do we really have to hear this again?” He complained and Bilbo grinned at him.

“Where to begin? Ah yes, you see I was a proper Baggins before I met Pippin’s Mum and Uncle, always on time for dinner, I carried a handkerchief with me everywhere I went, I never went on any sort of unsavoury adventures.” Bilbo made a big show of looking put upon but it was ruined when Lobelia snorted and he had to smile at her. “Now, Paladin and Esmeralda had got it into their fool Took heads that they would go to see the elves in Rivendell, of course neither of them had the brains for such a journey so they came to me.”

“Please! You were the one begging us to go!” Esmeralda called and Bilbo gasped pretending to be affronted.

“Honestly! As if any respectable hobbit such as myself would suggest such a thing.” The fauntlings giggled at his act and he grinned at them, shifting Frodo a bit in his lap. “Anyways, after they had begged me for days I decided I had better go along with them to keep them out of trouble, fat lot of good it did me when not three days into our journey came across a group of three hideous trolls.”

Bilbo made sure to twist his face into the best approximation he could, and he was pretty sure Paladin and Esmeralda were doing the same behind his back, telling a story with Tooks was more a performance than a recitation.

“Well, the first thing we did was scurry up into the trees as fast as we could, trolls are slow and stupid and since we’re so quick and smart we knew we could hide away from them. But of course, _somebody_ forgot about the pony, Minty we had borrowed from Old Took.” A chorus of protests went up amongst the adult Tooks.

“You forgot about her too!” Bilbo just shook his head.

“Anyway, we couldn’t very well leave that poor pony to such a dreadful fate and yet again I allowed myself to be convinced by two idiot Tooks to sneak down and set the pony free. I scurried down the tree as fast as I could and snuck into their camp. Now the trolls were busy cooking up some foul smelling soup. So I hurried up to the pen they were keeping Minty in, along with a few other ponies they must have gathered from a farm nearby, but they were tied up and I couldn’t get to them without a knife. So what was I to do?”

“I know! I know!” Marigold squeaked. He turned to her smiling. “You saw one of the trolls had a knife!”

“Yes I did, and being the brave Baggins that I am I decided to try and steal that knife away.”

“So when Baggins do something foolhardy its brave but when we Tooks do something it’s idiotic?” Paladin complained and Bilbo shrugged.

“Quite right too.” Lobelia sniffed but Bilbo could see the twinkling glint in her eyes.

“But everything went wrong didn’t it, for what I didn’t realise was that the troll with the knife had a horrible cold and just as I grabbed for his knife he reached behind him for a hanky and grabbed me instead!” The fauntlings all gasped and groaned dramatically. “It was the most disgusting thing that has ever happened to me. I smelled of troll for days afterwards. But that wasn’t my biggest problem, now I had the full attention of three mountain trolls on me!

“So what could I do but talk, they asked me what I was, so I told them I was a hobbit but then they were wondering if they could cook me and whether I was too small to make a decent meal! Me! As if I was a kipper caught for Sunday dinner!” He made a big show of pretending to be offended.

“What did you do?” Bilbo jumped, as did all the other hobbits, and they spun as one to face the door where Fili and Kili were standing with wide eyes, looking absolutely enthralled in the tale. He had to smile at them, they might be adult sized but he was sure that they were very young in dwarf years.

“Well, uh, that’s where these two came back in.” He motioned for them to come closer and Fili and Kili hurried forward to sit on the bed behind the fauntlings. Merry instantly curled up into Fili’s lap and Kili looked jealous for a moment before grabbing both Sam and Marigold up into his lap. Bilbo shook his head fondly before continuing. “Esmeralda and Paladin jumped in to my rescue, of course they didn’t think it through, they only had slingshots as weapons and up against mountain trolls you might as well throw flowers at them.”

“We only wanted to help.” Paladin complained and Bilbo rolled his eyes.

“Yes well, all they managed to do was get caught themselves and before I knew it we were all being roasted on a spit over the fire!” The fauntlings and Fili and Kili gasped dramatically. “Yes, well, lucky for these two that I was smart enough to think of a way out.”

“What did you do?” Kili asked.

“I remembered a story my mother used to tell me about trolls turning to stone in daylight and I knew there were only a few minutes left before they would eat us and run to some caves. So I talked.” Bilbo was going to continue when Merry interrupted.

“You are making a terrible mistake!” He squeaked dramatically.

“This is not the way to eat hobbits!” Sam chipped in and Bilbo had to laugh, they knew this story much too well.

“First you need to, to… skin us!” Marigold yelled, in the exact same tone Bilbo himself had used to tell the story.

“Noo!” Esmeralda and Paladin cried in protest, just as they had years ago and Bilbo laughed, this story told itself without him around it seemed.

“Don’t be ridiculous, I eat everythin’ with its skin on.” Bilbo growled in his best troll voice miming picking up a hobbit shaped thing and opened his mouth.

“No!” Merry yelled jumping to his feet out of Fili’s lap. “Not that one! It’s infected! He’s riddled! With parasites!”

“Parasites! I don’t have parasites!” Paladin cried offended and Bilbo laughed, rolling his eyes at how ridiculously slow his friend had been back in the day. “Uh, I mean I’m riddled! Riddled with parasites!”

“Parasites?” Bilbo growled before making a big show of looking at the lamp on Pippin’s bedside table and groaning and acting being turned to stone, the fauntlings giggled and applauded at the end of the story. “See, so that’s how I saved them from being eaten by trolls.”

“You’re quite a good story teller Mister Baggins.” Kili said enthusiastically and Bilbo laughed bowing deeply.

“Thank you, thank you!” He said, before a thought struck him. “Why are you two here? Surely you have duties to attend to?”

“But Mister Baggins! It’s dinner time! We just happen to be the first ones here.” Fili said leaping to his feet. “Food will be brought up shortly.”

Bilbo’s eyes widened in surprise, he was still full from luncheon, he hadn’t even spared a thought to dinner even though a few hours must have passed since they last ate. From the surprise on the others’ faces he assumed that they hadn’t either.

They had barely had time to settle at the table before the dwarf servants were back and placing more food on the table than the hobbits could eat in their current state, though the smell made Bilbo wish that he was hungry enough to eat it all.

The door opened once more and his eyes widened as he saw the guard from before, with tattoos covering his head enter the room, followed by a much more genial looking fellow, with a long white beard and twinkling eyes.

“Hello, I hope you don’t mind us joining you but when my brother here told me that there were hobbits in our halls I had to come see for myself.” The hobbits enthusiastically called for them to join the table. “I am Balin. At your service.”

“Dwalin. At your service.” The scarred dwarf dropped into a bow which the hobbit’s hurriedly returned before everyone turned to their dinner.

* * *

 

“Thorin! Come on! You’ve been working all day! Take a break and come meet the hobbits!” Thorin rolled his eyes at Frerin who was tugging at his furs.

“I have a few more documents to fill out and then I will join you.” He said firmly and Frerin groaned dramatically.

“Come on brother! If I leave you here those few documents will turn into a few more and then before you know it you’ll be working all night!” Thorin rolled his eyes again, he wasn’t planning on working all night, contrary to popular belief he didn’t actually enjoy paperwork, and he had been quite looking forward to this meal with the hobbits but the meeting with the Ironfoots had gone on a lot longer than expected and if he didn’t do these papers now they would need to be done on top of tomorrow’s work.

“Fine, if it makes you feel better then you can sit with me and watch me fill out these three documents and then I will come with you.” Thorin smirked when his brother let out a huff and collapsed into a chair opposite his desk. There was another reason he asked his brother to stay, he wouldn’t be tempted to stay longer when he could hear Frerin’s restless shuffling.

Honestly, if he didn’t know better he would think that Fili and Kili were Frerin’s sons and not Dís’. Dís was much more like him, level headed and calm. Frerin still acted like a dwarfling most of the time. Though Thorin found himself grateful for that, after the Battle of Azanulbizar Frerin had been withdrawn and silent for months, only the birth of Fili had brought him out of it and even then it had been many more months before the long silences would stop.

“There. Done.” He placed the last document on top of the finished pile and Frerin huffed impatiently grabbing his elder brother and practically dragging him from his seat.

Frerin dragged him down the long winding corridors until they reached the Healing Quarters. To say Thorin had been surprised when Frerin had brought him news that hobbits had found the royal entrances to the mountain would be an understatement and after he had found out that they had escaped a massacre from orcs, well it was safe to say he wished to meet these hobbits.

Frerin, finally got bored with his brother’s kingly pace and ran ahead, and Thorin had to chuckle at his brother’s exuberance, though he did pick up his own pace a bit now that there was no one to see.

Before he even reached the Healing Quarters he could hear Fili and Kili talking loudly, something about trolls and parasites. He huffed out a laugh and opened the door to the quarters.

For a while he stood watching the scene before him. Fili and Kili were standing on the bench infront of Dwalin and Balin enacting some sort of battle with a troll. His eyes fell to a couple of tiny hobbits who were jumping on the bench beside his nephews; occasionally cutting in with a detail they had forgotten, it was a rather adorable sight. Frerin was cheering at all the appropriate points and Thorin had to laugh when he saw Dwalin and Balin rolling their eyes at his brother from across the table.

He looked around the room, there were two hobbits, a young and an older one, unconscious in the beds, but most were at the tables he had ordered to be brought to the room. Four young ones, one of which was sat silently but was staring up at his nephews, the rest were adults. His eyes skimmed over them until he was suddenly brought up short.

Sitting beside the silent boy was the most beautiful creature Thorin had ever seen. He had delicate features, so much more delicate than any dwarf, his eyes were a soft grey/blue just like the perfect piece of flint and his hair was a halo of auburn leaves. He was suddenly caught with such a yearning for this one hobbit, a possessive, all-consuming need to have this hobbit for his own.

So strong was this feeling that he actually stumbled backwards out of the room, he leant against the wall breathing heavily. His One, after all these years he had finally found his One… and it was a hobbit. He cursed and shook his head trying to clear it.

He heard footsteps approaching him and straightened just in time to see Dís turn the corner and head in his direction.

“Thorin? Why are you waiting out here?” Her sharp eyes studied him and he unconsciously straightened. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I was just about to enter.” He said and before he could hesitate he strode through the door, into the room where his One sat. All eyes turned to him when he entered but all he could feel were the eyes of his One.

“Ah my hobbit friends, may I introduce my brother. Thorin, son of Thrain son of Thror, King under this mountain.” The hobbits all leapt to their feet and began bowing, he waved them off, especially when he saw his One stumble.

For the second time he studied the hobbit, this time his eyes saw all the pain, the dark circles under his eyes, the limpness to his hair, the hollows of his cheekbones and the way his clothes hung from his shoulders.

“Please, you are our guests, there is no need for such formalities, not when you have had such a hard journey here.” He had no desire to see his One stumble once more. “Though I would know your names.”

He couldn’t very well ask for just one name without it looking suspicious.

“Well I’m Lobelia Baggins your highness, of the Sacksville Bagginses.” She was the only hobbit still sitting and Thorin realised she had a broken leg, he nodded at her.

“Paladin Took and Eglantine Took at your service Your highness.” Paldin bowed before motioning to three younger hobbit lasses, that looked extremely similar. “May I introduce my daughters, Pearl, Pimpernel and Pervinca, our son Pippin is the boy in the bed.”

“I am sorry for his pain.” Thorin wasn’t lying, the one in the bed was so small, it was the greatest offence in their society to harm a child, he could not imagine how he would have reacted had Fili or Kili been harmed when they were that young, even now he felt anger rising in him thinking about them being harmed.

“Esmeralda Brandybuck, and my husband Saradoc. Our son Merry.” Ah, that was the lad that seemed quite taken with Fili and Kili, if the way he was now perched on Fili’s lap was any indication.

Thorin finally allowed his gaze to turn to his One who smiled nervously and half bowed at him. Thorin felt his heart drop when he realised that there was no recognition in his eyes, his One did not feel the same grasping desire as he did, perhaps hobbits did not have Ones.

“Bilbo Baggins, at your service your majesty.” He gave an endearing little shuffle. “My young charge Frodo Baggins, and also Samwise and Marigold Gamgee, and their father Hamfast who is still unconscious I’m afraid.”

Thorin found himself smiling at the hobbit but quickly quelled it when he saw Dís’ piercing gaze on his. She would never let him live it down when she found out that after all these years thinking he was destined to live alone, that his One was a hobbit.

“I am gravely sorry for all of your losses. Had we had the knowledge and the time we would have sent troupes out to help you.” He frowned when his words caused a haunted looked to appear on his One’s face and he resolved to take that look away if it was the very last thing he did.

“Come brother, sit, eat! I’m willing to bet that you haven’t eaten since breakfast.” Thorin sighed and sat down.

“No, I am starving.” He admitted and to his surprise the hobbits gasped.

“You haven’t eaten since first breakfast?” One of the little one’s gasped, Thorin thought it was Merry.

“I have had much work to do.” He said and the little one shook his head.

“No, no, no! You see you have to eat all your meals or you won’t grow up strong! Mama says that even if I want to play all day I have to stop for all seven meals.” Merry reprimanded him and Thorin glared at his sister who was chuckling behind her hands at him.

“Seven meals?” He couldn’t help but ask and Merry nodded.

“Yes, you have first breakfast and then second breakfast, elevenses, brunch, luncheon, tea and then supper.” Merry reeled off and the dwarfs all stared in confusion at the tiny creature.

“Where do you fit it all?” Frerin asked and that caused a round of laughter from the hobbits. Thorin found his eyes drawn back to Bilbo; he seemed to glow when he laughed. His One. 


	5. Living Situations

“My brother wishes to see you.” Bilbo looked up in surprise from where he had been watching Hamfast sleep. Dís was watching him with an oddly pensive look on her face. Bilbo thought back to the night before trying to think if he had done anything to offend the king but Thorin had barely even spoken two words to him last night.

“Why?” He asked frowning.

“To arrange quarters for you and your people. He wishes to know how many rooms to provide.” She explained, stepping closer to him, her eyes turning to study Hamfast’s prone form. “Óin says that your friend should wake soon?”

“Yes, it’s just a waiting game now. Both for Ham and for Pippin.” Dís’ expression softened as her gaze went to the other bed where Pippin was still lying pale beneath the covers, his sisters had been taking turns sitting with him telling him stories or just holding his hand.

“I have sent my prayers to Mahal, to ask for him to be healed.” Dís said and Bilbo nodded.

“Thank you.” He said softly, before he remembered why she was here in the first place. “But if Thorin wants to discuss our arrangements, why does he want to talk to me?”

“You are the leader of your people are you not?” She asked frowning and Bilbo shook his head, his eyes wide with surprise.

“Oh no, not me. Paladin is the Thain.” Bilbo said quickly, it wouldn’t do for them to think him some noble hobbit. He was a simple Baggins of Bag End.

“Ah, my apologies. We simply made assumptions from how the other hobbits look to you.” Dís said and Bilbo’s eyes widened further.

“What?” He gasped. Dís tilted her head, studying him intently.

“You do not see it?” She asked. “They look to you to make decisions, my brothers and I noted it last night at supper. It is slight, but being from the royal family ourselves we noticed it.”

“Oh, well, no. I’m not the Thain. Paladin is our leader.” Bilbo gestured to his friend who looked up after having his name called. Bilbo motioned him closer and the Took hurried over. “Pal, the king wants to talk about our living arrangements.”

“I apologise Master Took. I would have come to you first but there was a misunderstanding over who was the… Thain? Of your people.” Paladin just shook his head bemused at her formal tone.

Bilbo thought that it was probably a much graver insult to dwarfs than to hobbits to think someone of a higher rank than yourself. Though, he could probably equate it to one of his stuffier Baggins’ cousins being called a Took.

“No harm done.” Paladin smiled brightly at the Princess who nodded. “But is it okay if I bring Bilbo with me anyway? He’s been more of a leader to us than myself this last month.”

“Pal, that’s not true.” Bilbo protested but Paladin just shook his head.

“It is very true Bilbo. Were it not for you we might still be huddled in that safe room. Hamfast and Lobelia would most definitely have perished without you. I’m not so stubborn a Took to think that our people look to me as the sole leader anymore.” Paladin held up his hands to stop Bilbo’s protest. “I won’t hear any more on the subject. There have been joint Thains before. Why should there not be now?”

“It is settled then. Would you both come with me please?” Dís motioned towards the door and Bilbo stood quickly from the chair, but he had barely taken two steps when he felt tiny arms wrap around his legs. He looked down to see Frodo clinging to him, his knuckles white in his desperation.

“It’s alright my boy.” He murmured kneeling down to his nephew’s height. Frodo let go for a moment, only to throw his arms around Bilbo’s neck. “I’m just going with Paladin, to see about getting us somewhere to sleep.”

Frodo shook his head and buried his face in Bilbo’s shoulder. He could feel the shivers wracking his nephew’s form and looked up at Paladin for what to do.

“Hey Frodo, do you want to come with us?” Paladin asked, a wide grin spreading across his face. He quickly glanced at Dís to make sure that was all fine and she just shrugged, but Bilbo could see the corners of her mouth turning up. “That way you can make sure your Uncle doesn’t get up to any trouble.”

“Me?” Bilbo protested, climbing to his feet, this time with Frodo safely clutched in his arms. “ _I’m_ not the one who gets into trouble!”

He smiled when he felt Frodo’s fingers lessen their grip on his shirt as they followed Dís out of the Healer’s Quarters.

“Please! Who’s the one who stole all of Old Took’s ale when we were tweens!?” Paladin chortled and Bilbo gasped, pretending to be affronted.

“I did no such thing! See Frodo, this is why you have to come! Paladin’s going to spread vicious rumours about me to the dwarfs otherwise.” Frodo’s hands were now just lying on his shirt instead of grasping it, and he was sure that if he could see his nephew’s face it would have a smile on it.

“That sounds an interesting story.” Dís said smirking and Bilbo shook his head.

“Lies! All of it! To think, a Baggins doing anything quite so low as stealing. No, it was much more likely to have been the more unsavoury Tooks.” He sniffed, doing his best imitation of Lobelia and Paladin let out a great loud belly laugh that had a few passing dwarfs glancing at them curiously.

“He likes to make out that he’s a paragon of virtue, does our Bilbo.” Paladin grinned at Dís whose smirk softened into a smile.

“My sons are much the same; they use their looks and youth instead of family ties, but do not believe a word that comes from their wicked tongues.” Bilbo couldn’t help but think that she sounded proud, even when criticizing Fili and Kili.

They stopped just beyond a large stone door, and waited as Dís pushed it open. Bilbo had no illusions that, even with both him and Paladin, they would be able to shift it.

“Thorin. I brought the hobbits for you.” They followed Dís into the room; Bilbo blushed when the King’s eyes fell to Frodo who was now sitting alert in his arms, glancing around the room nervously.

He himself couldn’t help but take in how simple the room was. For a King’s study he had expected something very different, but it looked surprisingly like how his father’s study had. A few bookcases stood to the back of the room, and between them there was a strong wooden desk piled beneath mountains of papers. There were a few comfortable looking seats to their left that Bilbo guessed Frerin and Dís used when they came to bother their brother. All in all it was rather unimpressive, but it had the effect of calming Bilbo right down. Any being that had such a simple office should not be all that intimidating. In fact, the most intimidating thing in the office was Dwalin who was glowering just behind Thorin’s shoulder. Though Bilbo suspected that that was more Dwalin’s default expression than anything else.

“Paladin Took your majesty.” Paladin bowed slightly again, to remind the dwarf king who he was. It wouldn’t surprise Bilbo if the king had forgotten all of their names. He probably had a lot more things to worry about. “My… advisor, Bilbo Baggins, and his young charge Frodo Baggins who is here as a guard.”

“Ah, most smart.” Bilbo felt his heart do a funny jump when Thorin smiled at Frodo. “Though you should know young Master Baggins that none within these walls will ever mean you harm. Dwalin will scare the sense into anyone who thinks any different.”

Dwalin snorted and wandered over to the bookcases, studying the titles. Though Bilbo knew that at the slightest provocation those battle axes strapped to his back would be used to cruel effect.

Frodo nodded at the King and Bilbo patted his head before lowering him to the floor, keeping a tight hand around Frodo’s own small one.

“The Lady Dís said that you wished to discuss living quarters?” Paladin asked and Thorin nodded, Bilbo couldn’t help but notice that the dwarf had barely looked at him since they had entered. He wondered if he offended the king in some way, if that were the case he would have to make an effort to correct his behaviour, though he couldn’t think of anything he could have done in the last few minutes to annoy the dwarf.

“Yes. Of course you are welcome to stay with your son and friend while they heal, but I find that healing occurs much faster when not in the Healing Quarters.” It was Dís who snorted this time and Bilbo knew there was a story behind that statement. “It might do your son and friend well to be in more comfortable surroundings while they recover.”

“That is most kind of you.” Bilbo said smiling brightly at the king who glanced at him before quickly turning away and Bilbo’s smile dropped. He couldn’t help but grip Frodo’s hand tighter.

“Yes. Well. It is what any just king would do.” Thorin said, busying himself shuffling a few papers around on his desk before he turned back to Paladin. “How many rooms will you be needing?”

“Well my family and I number six, but the girls are happy to share a bed, and Pippin can sleep in with my wife and I. He’s only a young lad, he takes up little room. I imagine Merry will be fine to do the same with his parents. So that’s three rooms. Lobelia will want one on her own if that’s okay and I’m sure Frodo will be okay with sleeping in with Bilbo to keep him safe?” Paladin looked to the boy who nodded solemnly. “And Hamfast will happily share with his fauntlings. So that makes six rooms. If it’s not too much trouble.”

Bilbo quickly counted in his head to double check the math before nodding, six rooms would fit them all fine. To his surprise Thorin was looking confused by the number, Bilbo worried for a second that perhaps they were asking too much.

“We’ll be happy to work for the price of keeping the rooms of course.” He blurted out, but Paladin nodded quickly in agreement.

“Oh yes, we would never think of taking advantage of your hospitality.” He backed Bilbo up and the king shook his head, looking for all the world like he couldn’t find the words to express what he was thinking.

“Six?” Bilbo looked over to Dwalin to find that both him and Dís were watching them with similar expressions to Thorin.

“If it’s not too much trouble…” Bilbo said slowly before blustering on. “Of course, if it can’t be done then if you could have some sort of cot moved into one of the rooms then Lobelia can share with Frodo and I’ll take the floor.”

“No!” Bilbo jumped at the outburst and he felt Frodo cling to his hand at the loud noise. Even Thorin looked surprised with himself for shouting, but he controlled himself quickly. “Forgive me, it is just a shock that you would ask for so little.”

“Little?” Paladin asked, sending Bilbo a bewildered look which he returned.

“Yes. I would not expect any under my care to live in such crowded arrangements.” Thorin said frowning. “You and your families shall have apartments to reside in. We have many close to the Healing Quarters which are usually given to relatives when they come to stay, but visits from the Iron Hills are rare due to the distance. You and the rest of the hobbits are welcome to use them.”

“Oh.” Paladin said, more of an exhalation of air than anything else. Bilbo knew exactly what was going through his friend’s mind before he even spoke. “We do not need such fine lodgings. If there is perhaps an Inn of some sort we could stay in and repay you once we have gathered enough money?”

“We would not hear of it.” Dís said firmly, glaring at the both of them, but she seemed angrier at the thought of them staying in an Inn than at Paladin for suggesting such a thing. Bilbo remembered when Paladin had thanked them for letting them inside the mountain how angry she had gotten at even the slightest hint that she would not have helped them. Perhaps it was a matter of honour for dwarfs not to turn away their guests.

“Very well then. Thank you.” Paladin nodded to Thorin who nodded back.

“I shall arrange for someone to come and show you where the rooms are later this day.” With that Thorin went back to his papers and Bilbo assumed that meant they were dismissed. “Can you find your way back to the Healing Quarters unattended?”

“Yes, thank you.” Bilbo said, and while Thorin stiffened he didn’t look up at Bilbo.

Bilbo just shook his head bewildered and lifted Frodo into his arms. He gave an awkward bow to Dís and Dwalin before following Paladin out of the room.

“Well that was odd.” Paladin said as soon as they were out of hearing distance and Bilbo nodded.

“I don’t think Thorin likes me much.” He said frowning and Paladin just shrugged.

“Well I didn’t like you much either when we first met so I’m not surprised.” Bilbo elbowed his friend. Paladin laughed and ran ahead a little. “I mean who would like a thieving Baggins who would steal all the ale and refuse to share it with his dear friends!”

“Lies! Vicious lies I tell you!” Bilbo called after the Took who ran ahead, giggling as if he was as young as Pippin once again. “Don’t listen to him Frodo, I am and always will be a Baggins of Bag End! I am no Burglar!”

He yelled the last bit down the hallway and heard Paladin’s answering laugh before shaking his head and following his friend and a slower pace.

* * *

“What the hell was that all about?” Thorin stiffened at Dwalin’s gruff voice but tried to pass it off as a shrug. He could tell that Dís didn’t believe it for one second, her eyes sharp fixed on his movements.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said, faking levity but Dwalin had known him longer than any other, and Dís and Frerin came in a close second. “What?”

“You and that Baggins fellow.” Dís said studying him closely. “You are acting awful odd around him.”

“If I didn’t know any better I would say you had a crush on the hobbit.” Dwalin chuckled, but drew up short when he saw Thorin’s shoulders stiffen once more. “Wait. Seriously? You fancy the hobbit?”

“No.” He snapped, but he could feel his face turning red. He cursed himself for inheriting his mother’s fair skin.

“Baggins?” Dís asked, she didn’t sound condemning, simply curious. “But you’ve barely seen him for more than an hour?”

“I don’t _fancy_ the hobbit.” He growled and Dwalin chuckled patting his back.

“Whatever you say _Báhel_.” Dwalin smirked at him and Thorin just glared back. “Oh how did I not see it before, this is just like that time with the emissary from the Iron Hills!”

“I did _not_ have a crush on Imhál and I do _not_ have a crush on Bilbo.” Thorin snapped.

“Oh so he’s Bilbo now?” Dwalin laughed louder and Thorin snapped his mouth shut. Refusing to say another word.

Dís meanwhile had been watching him all throughout the teasing and something suddenly clicked into understanding in her mind.

“Your One.” She whispered and Thorin flinched so suddenly that he sent a vial of ink flying.

Silence fell in the room and Thorin watched as the ink soaked into a few documents, he was grateful they were not important because he couldn’t find it in himself to try and save them.

“By Mahal Thorin. I didn’t know.” Dwalin apologised and Thorin just shook his head.

“It matters not. I am one of the _Zesululálh_.” Thorin could not help the pain in his voice when he spoke. All knew the tales, the horror stories of dwarfs who had found their Ones only to find it not reciprocated. It was extremely rare. So rare that it had fallen into stories to tell dwarflings at night. “He did not feel the ‘ _Urs_ , he didn’t recognise me.”

Thorin felt his shame grow when his eyes grew wet at the thought. That he had finally found his One after so long believing that he was not one of the dwarfs guided by fate, and to have his One so cruelly dangled in front of him. It was too cruel. He wished that he was like Dís, who had found love without a One.

“Do not despair yet brother.” Dís said and Thorin looked to her, she had a hand holding her chin thoughtfully. “Perhaps it is different for hobbits?”

“It matters little, if he did not feel the fire, the _‘Urs_ when we first locked eyes then he does not believe me his One.” Thorin was mortified that his voice cracked at the end of the sentence, but Dís just glared at him.

“Perhaps hobbits do not have Ones. Perhaps they are all as Vini and I, free to decide our own destinies.” She said and Thorin frowned up at her, trying to decipher what she was getting at. She sighed frustrated, and hit him hard on the shoulder. “What I am _saying_ dear brother, is not to give up hope just yet. If hobbits do not have Ones as I suspected then Bilbo is not waiting for someone. This means there is still a chance he will fall for you, you idiot. You can court him, as I did Vini.”

Thorin’s eyes widened as he realised for the first time that there was still hope.

“I can have him?” He whispered and Dís rolled her eyes.

“As much as any dwarf can have another. Though I suspect that the hobbits will not be pleased with that choice of words.” Dís sniffed and Thorin shook it off. He was ecstatic. He needed to find out if hobbits had Ones, but he must be discreet about it.

“Neither of you will breathe a word of this to anyone.” He snapped and Dís just raised an eyebrow at him. “Especially Frerin or the boys. They cannot keep a secret to save their lives.”

“And why should we keep this a secret?” Dwalin rumbled.

“Because, I do not wish for my hobbit to feel pressured into making any decision he would not otherwise make. Imagine the pressure it would put on him to know that my happiness rested in his hands, from what I know of hobbits they treasure happiness and comfort above most things. I would not have him with me against his will.” Dís nodded, looking impressed at his mature thinking, but it wasn’t mature at all. It was completely selfish. He did not want a shadow, or a false love. He wanted Bilbo to love him with all of his being, he wanted the love to fill his hobbit up like it did him.

“I won’t tell them.” Dís said softly and Dwalin nodded though he looked unsure for a moment.

“Though it might be wise to tell Balin. He has knowledge from his years that none of us have. He might know more on the subject of hobbit courting.” Dwalin said and Thorin thought about it a moment before nodding.

“I will tell him after this afternoon’s meeting.” He said and Dís smiled at him, resting her hand on his shoulder.

“Bilbo Baggins is a being worthy of being your One. I am glad that you have found him.” She said firmly and he smiled up at her. For the first time in years, for the first time since Azanulbizar he felt truly at peace. He would court his hobbit so well that Bilbo Baggins would fall in love with him so deeply he would never wish to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise if my khuzdul is crappy, but I really tried to get the definitions as close as possible to what I needed:
> 
> Bahel - Friend of all friends (Dwalin says it jokingly here, but do not doubt he really means it)
> 
> Zesululálh - The Lonely Ones (Or as close as I could get it)
> 
> Urs - Fire (I'm using it as a colloquial term to mean the spark of recognition a dwarf feels when they meet their One)
> 
> ~  
> Also I'm sorry if everyone feels like Dis is being too standoffish at the moment but I have reasons for her being withdrawn, they'll come to light in a few chapters I promise! She'll get warmer as the story goes on.


	6. Baths and Bedrooms

Bilbo was just about to doze off in the chair he had been resting in beside Hamfast’s bed when he felt the small fingers tugging insistently at his sleeves. He blinked his eyes open and looked down at Frodo who was frowning at him.

“What is it my boy?” He asked and Frodo pointed.

Bilbo gasped when he saw what Frodo was telling him. Hamfast’s eyes were open.

“Ham!? Ham are you awake?” His shout drew everyone to the bed but he could only focus on his friend who was glancing tiredly around the room.

“Da! You’re awake!” Sam cried crawling up onto the bed and Bilbo helped Marigold follow her brother.

“Where… W-Where?” Hamfast tried to talk but his voice was rough from disuse. Bilbo quickly grasped a cup of water he had been using to dampen Hamfast’s lips and held it up for him to drink from. Hamfast drank greedily before resting his head back against the pillows “W-Where… are we?”

“We’re in the Blue Mountains Da! You’ll never guess who rescued us though! It was the prince of the dwarfs! And he’s really nice Da! And so are the princes, and the princess is really pretty! But she’s not like a princess like in the stories, but she’s still really pretty-” Hamfast smiled weakly and pressed his hand against his daughters head to stop the flow of words.

“Sorry sweetheart but you’re going to have to slow down a bit.” Bilbo chuckled and Ham turned to him.

“We’re in the Blue Mountains, under the care of the royal family because we used a long forgotten door that led us almost right to their quarters.” Bilbo explained and Hamfast’s eyebrows rose in shock.

“Is everyone…?” He trailed off, his eyes counting the number of hobbits around his sickbed.

“Everyone’s alive, Pippin is still unconscious though.” Paladin said and Hamfast frowned, he twisted his head until he could see Pippin’s still form on the bed beside his.

“Has he been seen by a healer?” He asked.

“Ai, that would be me.” The hobbits all moved aside sheepishly when Óin glared at them. Hamfast studied the grisly old dwarf who started examining him without any preamble.

“Hamfast, this is Óin. He’s the one who treated us when we got here.” Bilbo said and Hamfast frowned.

“Us? Were you injured Mister Bilbo?” Bilbo flushed and shrugged.

“It wasn’t that bad, especially not compared to you, Pippin and Lobelia.” He said hurriedly but his reassurances were cut short when Óin snorted.

“Lad would’ve been just as bad off as you had the cut been an inch deeper. Not to mention the fact that he didn’t treat it the whole journey here. It’s a wonder he didn’t die from blood poisoning.” He grumbled and Hamfast glared at Bilbo.

“Mister Bilbo…”

“Honestly Ham, I’m fine now. We’re all safe here.” Bilbo said and Hamfast sighed relaxing further into the bed.

“Not the end of this discussion Mister Bilbo… I’m just too tired to have it now.” Hamfast murmured, his eyes already closing.

“Da! Don’t go to sleep Da!” Sam cried, his hands clenched into fists in his Father’s sheets.

“Don’t worry laddie, it’s good for your Da to sleep. He’ll wake up again soon.” Óin said, patting Sam and then Marigold on the head and Sam nodded tearfully.

Bilbo sat back down in his chair by Hamfast’s bed and ran his hand over his eyes, he felt so much lighter from the relief of knowing his friend was alive. There had been a constant voice in the back of his mind for the last few days saying that it had been too late, he hadn’t got them to safety fast enough.

The next time he looked up though that relief was replaced with sadness when he saw Paladin and Eglantine sat around Pippin’s bed. The fauntling had yet to even stir, it seemed that it would take a miracle to wake him and they were all losing hope.

* * *

The next few hours were spent in contemplative silence. Most everyone’s minds were on Pippin and the fear that he would not wake, but they were distracted from their woes when three dwarven servants appeared to tell them that the rooms were ready for them to move in.

The room became a flurry of activity as the fauntlings were rounded up into some semblance of order, and Óin ordered two litters to be brought to carry Hamfast and Pippin to their new rooms. Lobelia then ordered one to be brought for her, for she refused to hobble in public.

The trip to their new rooms did not take long; it was only a few corridors away and when they reached them all of the hobbits were stunned into silence.

They had been given a set of adjoining apartments. The door they were shown to opened up into a large living area with a fireplace and a kitchen and dining area with a table large enough to fit all of them and then some more. Several corridors led off from this living room towards separate apartments for each of the families. The Tooks quickly took off to claim the largest set of apartments as their own, and Lobelia demanded second choice. Esmeralda and Saradoc claimed a small set of rooms to the right of the kitchen and too soon Bilbo was left in the living room with an unconscious Hamfast and their fauntlings.

“So, Sam, Goldie. Do you want to pick your rooms first?” He asked and they nodded excitedly. Bilbo asked for the dwarfs to bring Hamfast with them as they followed the fauntlings deeper into the apartments.

Goldie claimed a set of three adjoining bedrooms and demanded that the dwarfs put her father down on the biggest bed. Bilbo spared a moment of thought that perhaps Marigold was spending too much time with Lobelia, before shaking it off in the sheer awe he fell into at the sight of the rooms.

The walls were harsh stone but covered with tapestries and rugs to keep the heat from the fireplaces in. The beds were larger than any dwarf would ever have cause for them to be. As it was Bilbo could have fit into Hamfast’s bed several times over. After making sure Sam and Marigold were okay to be left to explore their new rooms he smiled down at Frodo and took his nephew’s hand.

“So Frodo, what rooms shall we choose?” Frodo pulled at his hand and led him back towards the living room before pulling him down one of the tunnels. There were several doors along their corridor and Bilbo opened one at random, it opened to what looked like a study so he closed it and opened the next one to find a bedroom. It was furnished all in blues and silver, and was quite magnificent. “How about this one my boy?”

Frodo entered the room silently and walked over to the bed where he stroked the material of the covers for a moment before he turned to Bilbo and nodded. Bilbo smiled.

“Alright then, let’s go find a room for me shall we?” Frodo nodded and walked over to take Bilbo’s hand again before pulling him out of the room. They found that the room beside Frodo’s contained a large bathroom, with a long sloping bath dug into the floor that Bilbo resolved to use as soon as he could. The bathroom had an adjoining door that led to another bedroom and Bilbo decided to claim that room for his own.

The room’s bed was again much too big but Bilbo supposed that he would not find anything different in these apartments. The covers of the bed were a deep russet orange with gold thread embroidery. A large brown fur laid across the floor beside the bed so his toes would not have to feel the shock of cold stone in the mornings, and a large chest of drawers stood at the other end of the room, not that he had much to fill it with, but he would work to gain some money and then buy some new clothes for himself and Frodo.

Now that he had a moment away from the watching eyes of the hobbits, he glanced down at himself and Frodo, they were still in the clothes they had escaped in, there had been no time to think of such things but now Bilbo could not help but wince and the state of them. Óin had done a good job of cleaning him up to look at his wound, but there was still mud caked into his fingers, and the creases of his clothes. He was sure that they must all smell terrible and was only grateful that the royals had at least not drawn attention to the state they were all in.

As it was, he would have to ask one of the royals, maybe Dís, if she could have some hobbit sized clothes delivered until they could earn some money to buy material for more.

“Right my boy, how about a bath?” He asked and Frodo nodded quickly.

Bilbo led his nephew back to the bathroom and spent a moment working out the hot and the cold taps before setting them running and adding a large amount of a sweet smelling lotion he found in a small cupboard in the corner of the room. They watched the water rise for a few minutes before Bilbo realised that it would take a long while to fill completely so Bilbo took Frodo back to the living room where Pearl and Pervinca were looking through all the cupboard of the kitchen.

“How are your rooms, girls?” He asked and their face lit up.

“Oh Uncle Bilbo they are so amazing! We each get our own room! I’ve never had my own room before!” Pearl cried excitedly and Bilbo couldn’t help but smile.

“Yes! There’s no way that Pippin will stay asleep now! He’s bound to wake up from the softness of the bed alone!” Pervinca stated cheerfully and Bilbo nodded at her, of all of their group only Pippin’s sisters and Merry had never wavered in their belief that Pippin would wake. It was a fact to them, not a prayer. To say that their brother would stay unconscious was as ridiculous as saying that the sky was green.

“Well, Frodo and I are going to make use of the large bathroom to clean up a bit before supper.” Bilbo said and the girl’s eyes widened.

“Oh a bath! We have three bathrooms in our apartments, but we didn’t think anything of it! We can be clean again!” The girls ran off before Bilbo could say another word and he chuckled before lifting Frodo into his arms.

“What do you say my boy, shall we go see if we can find a fauntling under all that dirt?” He teased and Frodo smiled timidly at him before nodding.

The bath was still filling when they went back to their rooms, but Bilbo could not wait. He quickly stripped Frodo and sat him down in the shallow end of the bath before he grabbed a block of hard soap and began scrubbing at his nephew until his skin was pink and his hair was once again clean.

The bubbles that the lotion had caused turned brown with the muck that came off of Frodo but Bilbo cared not. Leaving Frodo to play with the bubbles he grabbed his and Frodo’s packs taking out all of the clothes in them before he quickly stripped and strode to the deeper end of the pool, sighing in bliss as the hot water soothed his aching muscles.

Taking up the same hard soap, he gave himself the same treatment that Frodo had received, and scrubbed himself until his skin was pink and sore, but so very clean. He did not allow himself to relax then; instead he pulled their clothes into the soapy water and gave them the best washing he could under the circumstances. There were some stains that may never come out but at least, by the time he was done, they no longer smelled.

He jumped from the bath to lay their clothes down in front of the fireplace in his room before slipping back into the water and spending a long time just soaking.

Eventually they had to get out, and once they did they had already spent so long in the water that their fingers and toes were pruning. He slipped from the water and dried himself thoroughly with one of the large soft towels placed to the side of the room, before he wrapped it around his waist and plucked Frodo from the water. He dried his nephew before wrapping him up in a dry towel and walking to his rooms.

Their clothes were still slightly damp but after a month of hard travelling through all weathers it was nothing to sit in damp clothes. So he dressed quickly before dressing Frodo and then he sat down on his bed, wondering what to do.

Frodo sat opposite him, his legs crossed, as he picked at the golden embroidery on the covers.

Bilbo watched his nephew for a long while, he could hardly believe that this was the same boy who spent summers rolling down the grass atop Bag End with a merry band of fauntlings at his beck and call. Frodo was so quiet, withdrawn, and weeks of travelling had hollowed his once rosy cheeks. He bit his lip, this was the first time he had been alone with Frodo since everything had happened and he knew he needed to talk to his nephew.

“Frodo?” He said gently and his nephew looked up, blinking up at him with wide blue eyes. “I was wondering if you could talk to me.”

Frodo frowned and looked quickly down at his hands again.

“You don’t have to if you still don’t feel ready. I just want to know if you are okay, I know it’s a silly question given all that has happened but I still want to ask it.” Frodo nodded but he did not look up again. Bilbo felt the sting of tears fill his eyes. “Frodo, please look at me.”

Frodo stared at his hands for a while longer, but eventually he looked up at Bilbo. His eyes widened when he saw that Bilbo was crying and he quickly crawled into his uncle’s lap, wrapping his arms around Bilbo’s neck tightly.

Bilbo grasped at the fauntling tightly. The boy was so small in his arms, Frodo had been a healthy hobbit lad not even a month ago. Now Bilbo could feel his ribs, could feel how light the boy had become.

“I’m so sorry Frodo, for everything that has happened. I’m sorry about your Mum and Dad. I’m sorry that the Shire is g-gone.” Bilbo’s voice choked on the last word and he buried his face in Frodo’s clean hair, drawing in deep calming breaths. Frodo just grasped at him tighter, his nails scratching at the back of Bilbo’s neck but he could not find it in himself to care.

Bilbo did not know how long they sat together, but it felt like years later when they drew apart. Bilbo chuckled dryly and wiped the remaining tears from their faces.

“I’m sorry about that my boy. I guess I just needed a hug.” It was something that Primula had used to say, she would often just draw one of them into her arms and hug them for long minutes at a time. It brought a smile to his face to think about and he saw a similar smile on Frodo’s face. “Shall we go see about getting Sam and Marigold into a bath? I bet now that we’re clean we’ll be able to smell how bad everyone else is.”

Frodo smiled and nodded and they headed back towards the Gamgees’ rooms.

* * *

“We come baring food!” Bilbo looked up from where he had been studying the engravings around the fireplace in the living room to see Fili and Kili in the doorway each holding a large platter of roast potatoes.

“Oh Fili, Kili, come in.” Eglantine said smiling at the boys who grinned back at her and placed the food onto the table.

“Uncle Frerin and Uncle Thorin will be coming up later, they have a meeting, but Mum’s going to be here in a minute with the rest of the food. She sent us up early.” Kili shook his head, pretending to look bewildered. “She said something about us doing nothing but getting in the way.”

“I, for one, have no idea what she was talking about.” Fili grinned at Merry who had just run out from his apartments.

“Hello!” He chirped before holding his hands up for Fili to pick him up. Fili did so grinning and Bilbo rolled his eyes, Merry already had him wrapped around his little finger. “Ooh roast potatoes!”

“Yep, but wait a minute and everything else will be here.” Kili said, looking put out at not having a fauntling to hold, he glanced around the room, but Frodo was still much too shy and was behind Bilbo’s legs and Sam and Marigold were still in their baths. Bilbo would go in to check on them in a few minutes. There was a knock at the door and Dís entered followed by a lot of servants all carrying different platters filled to the brim with food. It all smelled wonderful and in moments the table was groaning underneath the weight.

“It’s nice to see you again Lady Dís.” Bilbo said and she nodded, her eyes running up and down his body, taking in his clean appearance. He couldn’t help but fidget under her gaze, Hamson’s clothes which had been baggy to start with now hung off his frame.

“You look much better without all that dirt.” She smirked and he shrugged smiling sheepishly as he tugged at the edge of his shirt.

“I feel much better.” He said helping Frodo into a seat beside Paladin who was staring at the food hungrily, but they would wait for everyone else to appear before digging in.

“You smell a lot better.” Fili said to Merry who nodded solemnly.

“Mama made me wash. But I feel much better now.” Merry said sagely and Fili nodded.

“I bet, you had a hard journey here and a bath always makes me feel better.” Fili said and Merry frowned and fell silent. Were it not for what Merry was obviously thinking about, it would have been almost comical to see how worried Fili looked at upsetting his hobbit.

“Come now Merry, why don’t you and Fili and Kili go tell your sisters to hurry up?” Paladin asked, noticing the look on his nephew’s face. “Can you check on Pippin while you’re down there?”

Merry nodded, suddenly cheerful again, before he squirmed to be let down and dragged the two dwarf brothers out of the room.

“I never think about Merry being affected by this whole situation.” Bilbo admitted to Esmeralda guiltily, she was watching her son leave the room with a sad look. “He just always seems like he’s doing so well.”

“He’s hiding it well, but we all saw some horrible things that night.” Saradoc said reaching out to take his wife’s hand. “I am only thankful that we were staying in the Grand Smials and not in Brandy Hall.”

Bilbo squeezed Frodo’s shoulder gently when he saw the boy shudder. Now was not the time for such a discussion.

“I’ll be right back; I’m going to get Sam and Marigold out of the bath.” He said and Esmeralda nodded turning to chat to Frodo cheerfully, trying to take all of their minds off of the attacks.

Sam was already fully dressed in the clothes Bilbo had washed and set out to dry for them and he was helping his sister into her blouse but was finding the top buttons tricky. Bilbo knelt down and quickly finished buttoning her up before he looked them both over, he had almost forgotten that they had blonde hair so filthy had they been. Now their hair practically glowed in the ringlets it fell into.

“Much better.” He said decisively and they both nodded at him. “Dinner’s on the table, you two go out and sit down. I’m just going to check on your Da then I’ll be right back.”

The fauntlings ran from the room and Bilbo headed into Hamfast’s room. The hobbit was still asleep on the bed, but it looked a much more natural sleep than before. He was curled into the pillows and was clutching at the blankets. Bilbo spent a moment adjusting the sheets so they looked more comfortable and he checked his friend over once before he headed back to the living room.

Everyone had finished with their baths and he was the last to sit down. As soon as he did it was like the floodgates opening, everyone was grabbing for the food, calling for more to be passed down the table and digging into the veritable feast before them.

Bilbo made sure that Sam, Marigold and Frodo had full plates before filling his own, his mouth watering at the smells of the roast. He was just filling his plate a second time when there was a knock at the door and it opened to admit Frerin and Thorin.

“Ah Your Highnesses come join us!” Paladin called. “There’s plenty left.”

The king and his brother headed to the table and Bilbo smiled at Thorin who sat next to him, resolving to make this dwarf like him if it killed him. Thorin looked away at the smile and started pulling food onto a plate that was passed down from the head of the table. Bilbo just shook his head and helped Frodo with a second helping of carrots.

“Are the rooms to your liking?” Bilbo almost jumped at how close the voice was. He spun to see Thorin watching him with a frown on his face.

“Oh yes, they’re amazing! Almost too good, we weren’t expecting anything quite so grand.” Bilbo gushed, and it was the truth.

“Maybe _you_ weren’t.” Lobelia cut in from the opposite side of the table with a haughty sniff that had Bilbo laughing. “Some of us are used to fine things.”

“Ah, I shall resolve only to give you the very best of things then Miss…” Thorin trailed off and Lobelia turned her gaze to the king.

“Lobelia, Sacksville-Baggins.” She said and Thorin nodded.

“I apologize, but there are so many names to learn.” He said and Lobelia just shook her head.

“Yes I suppose to others it might seem so, but we hobbits are trained practically from birth to remember all the names of our relatives, it’s dreadfully impolite to refer to a Baggins as a Proudfoot or to a Took as a Brandybuck. All hobbits have remarkably good memories for names.” She said and Bilbo frowned when Thorin smiled, Thorin seemed to refuse to smile at him but Lobelia was fine.

“I was wondering your Highness, if there were any jobs available?” Bilbo asked and Thorin frowned at him.

“You need not work, we require no payment.” He said and Bilbo shook his head.

“Perhaps not, but we all need new clothes, and as a Baggins I cannot simply let food be brought to me every mealtime. We need money to live off of.” Bilbo explained and his heart sank when Thorin’s frown deepened.

“You only need ask for something and it will be given.” He stated and Bilbo couldn’t help but roll his eyes, he turned to the other hobbits for help. Paladin grinned and winked at him.

“It’s not just for money Your Majesty.” He piped up. “We hobbits are a busy folk, I fear we’ll quickly lose our minds with nothing to do but sit around and wait for meals. Jobs will help us.”

Thorin nodded after a long moment.

“I… understand.” He didn’t sound like he agreed but at least he wasn’t refusing anymore.

“I completely understand.” Dís said smiling at Paladin. “What sort of jobs would you like?”

“Well, not to brag, but I make the best mince pies this side of the misty mountains. If there are any jobs in the kitchens available I would gladly take one.” Saradoc cut in and Eglantine hit his arm.

“That is a lie and you know it! We took a vote last Yule and all of the fauntlings voted my pies the best.” She stated proudly and Bilbo couldn’t help but smile, Saradoc and Eglantine had had a fierce competition between their baking skills ever since they met through their spouses. It was all in good fun of course.

“I am sure Bombur will appreciate the help from two master cooks such as yourselves.” Dís said and there wasn’t even a hint of teasing in her voice. Bilbo was really starting to like the princess.

“What about the rest of you hobbits?” Frerin asked, grinning widely. “Or shall we besiege Bombur with hobbits to work in the kitchens?”

“Paladin’s got the best head for numbers in the Shire.” Bilbo said, thinking about what sort of jobs everyone could have. “If there is some sort of accountancy position open Paladin would love to do the books.”

“Oh I am sure Balin would love that!” Fili said excitedly. “He’s always complaining that he can never find an assistant who’s quick enough to keep up with him.”

“Well, I’ll gladly try.” Paladin grinned. The dwarfs looked at the remaining hobbits, as if wondering what skills they could possibly have.

“Well, Lobelia and I usually organise all of the Shire events.” Esmeralda said before pausing. “…Although I am not sure if there are any such jobs.”

“Indeed there are Mrs Brandybuck.” Dís said. “I myself am in charge of all major events, why we have one coming up in a few weeks. A festival for Durin’s Day. I would gladly pay you to help take some of the workload off my hands.”

“As you wish Ma’am.” Lobelia said and Dís smiled at her. Bilbo felt a cold shudder; he had no idea what to do if these two became friends. They would become a force to be reckoned with.

“What of you Master Baggins? What skills lie within you?” Bilbo flushed when all of Thorin’s attention went to him.

“Well, I’m not really sure.” He said nervously. “I was a bachelor back home I never worked for a living. But I am most willing to give anything a go.”

“Uncle Bilbo tells the best stories!” Merry suddenly yelled from up the table and Bilbo’s blush darkened at Thorin’s raised eyebrow.

“Oh yes he does!” Kili called. “He told this one about trolls! It was fantastic!”

“Yes, well, I’m not sure that telling stories is a job though Merry.” Bilbo said.

“What about a job in the library?” Paladin asked Thorin. “Are there such jobs? Bilbo speaks many languages, I am sure he will be useful to translate or even just as a scribe?”

“What languages do you speak?” Thorin asked and Bilbo shrugged.

“I wouldn’t say many, I am fluent in Sindarin, and can read quite a bit of Quenya.” He said, Thorin gave him a strangely piercing look.

“Would you enjoy a job in the library?” He asked and Bilbo nodded quickly.

“Oh yes, I have always loved books. Any sort of job that involves books will be perfect.” He said and Thorin nodded.

“The matter is settled then. I will inform Bombur and Balin of their additions to their workforce, and ask one of the scribes to show you around the library tomorrow.”

“Thank you.” Bilbo said smiling and Thorin nodded.

“What about the little ones?” Fili asked. “Who will watch them while you are all working?”

“We can Papa!” Pearl called. “Me and Pim and 'Vinca, we’ll watch the fauntlings.”

Bilbo smiled at the enthusiastic nods her sisters gave. Pearl and her sisters had always loved the little ones, they would watch over the young ones as if their lives depended on it.

“Very well, perhaps we could have some paper delivered and you could start up their lessons again?” Paladin asked, looking to Dís who nodded.

“That is easily arranged.” She said and Bilbo smiled down at Frodo, the young boy had always loved his lessons, much more so than any of the other fauntlings. He would enjoy them starting up again Bilbo was sure.


	7. Work

_Flames, his mind was full of fire. Heat that licked at every corner of the world._

_Out of the flames came shapes; dark, menacing shapes with wicked blades that cut at him before withdrawing._

_Howls came from beyond the fire, howls promising death and destruction to all. To him._

_Everything was gone, all the light, all the heat. He was alone and yet not._

_There was someone here; he could hear the thin wheezing breaths._

_He ran, and ran, and ran, he ran until he could run no more and only stopped when he tripped over a shape in the dark._

_He twisted, screaming as the thing grabbed at his ankles. Then he saw, the dark faded and he saw the thing._

_It was a hobbit, Lobelia, her eyes were gone, her throat cut, blood soaked into her dress._

_Then it was Frodo, grabbing at him with tight hands._

_They were all dead. They were all coming for him._

_“Bilbo…”_

_“Uncle Bilbo.”_

* * *

He shot up in the bed, panting heavily, his whole body damp with sweat. It took him a few long moments to remember where he was, who he was.

“Uncle Bilbo?” His head snapped to the side to see Frodo shifting nervously by the side of his bed. It took him a long moment to realise that the voice was coming from his nephew.

“Frodo? Sorry my boy… I… I was having a bad dream…” He murmured rubbing his hands over his face, trying to calm down. Once his breathing finally came back to something normal he looked back at Frodo, this time seeing all that he hadn’t before.

The bedraggled state of Frodo’s clothes, the tear tracks on his face.

“What’s wrong Frodo?” He asked reaching out and drawing the boy into the bed with him.

“Me too.” Bilbo started, he hadn’t expected Frodo to answer him. It took him a moment to realise what Frodo meant.

“You had a nightmare too?” He asked and Frodo nodded. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Frodo shook his head and burrowed into Bilbo’s side.

“Okay, how about you stay here with me tonight then? That way you can protect me from my bad dreams and I can protect you from yours.” Bilbo said matter-of-factly and Frodo nodded, his eyes already closing.

Bilbo smiled and lay back down, this time with his nephew in his arms. It was probably a few hours until sunrise, though it was hard to tell in the mountain. Before he knew what was happening, his eyes started to drift shut, soothed by the warm presence of his nephew beside him and the steady sounds of his breath. They were all okay. They had all survived.

* * *

Bilbo quelled his yawns over breakfast, as it was he could barely keep his eyes open. Frodo was sitting next to him and every few seconds was drifting into his side.

“Come now Frodo make sure you have plenty to eat. These dwarfs only eat three meals a day so we’ll have to make sure to eat a lot during them.” He yawned, even as he filled his plate for a second time.

His stomach was properly recovered from their journey, even if the rest of him wasn’t. Trust a hobbit’s stomach to be the first thing back to normal.

A knock at the door interrupted their breakfast and Bilbo hopped to his feet to answer it. At the door was a young looking dwarf with red hair and a shy smile on his face. Bilbo liked him immediately for his knitted scarf and gloves.

“Uh hello there. I’m Ori… I work in the library and was asked to show Mr Baggins to it?” Bilbo smiled widely at him.

“You can just call me Bilbo. We were just finished breakfast, why don’t you come in and have a bite?” Bilbo held the door wider and Ori blushed.

“Oh no, I’m fine.”

“Nonsense, just have a scone, they are wonderful.” Bilbo walked back to the table, this time with Ori following him.

“Thank you.” Ori smiled when Bilbo pushed a cheese scone into his hands.

Bilbo sat down to finish eating, pulling Ori down to sit beside him.

“Everyone this is Ori. He works in the library.” He introduced and a flood of names came back. Bilbo shook his head; he knew that Ori wouldn’t remember all of the names, especially when they were thrown at him like that.

“I like your scarf!” Merry chirped and Ori’s blush deepened.

“Oh, thank you. I made it myself.” Merry nodded.

“Pim’s learning to knit! She promised that she would make me a hat when she got good enough.” Merry grinned, pointing to Pimpernel who waved at Ori.

“Ah, I’d be glad to give you some tips if you’d like?” Ori said softly and Pimpernel nodded, smiling widely.

“Thank you Mister Ori.” She said politely before turning back to her sisters.

Bilbo finished his meal quickly and stood back up. Kissing the top of Frodo’s head.

“Be good for the girls now Frodo. I’ll be back later.” Frodo nodded, his lips pressed tightly together. “Come now, don’t look at me like that. I’ll be back in time for tea, and I have Ori to look after me don’t I?”

Bilbo looked to Ori who looked confused for a long moment.

“I…uh… the library isn’t very dangerous.” Ori said and Frodo stared at Ori before nodding.

“Alright Ori, lead the way.” Bilbo said cheerfully and Ori waved goodbye to the other hobbits before leading Bilbo out of the room.

They walked down many long winding corridors; so many that Bilbo wondered if he would ever find his own way to where he would be working. Eventually they came to a large archway, beyond which Bilbo could see shelves upon shelves of books and scrolls.

“Master Flói thought that you might simply shadow me for the first few days, just until you get your bearings, and we all have the last two days of the week off for free time.” Ori explained and Bilbo nodded following Ori over to a set of wooden desk set up at the back of the room. There were a few dwarfs behind some, but most were empty. Bilbo assumed they were early so Ori could show him around. Ori placed a small bag filled with scrolls of loose paper and ink pots down behind one of the desks. “This is where I usually sit, you can take the one next to me. But first I thought I’d show you around the library.”

Bilbo nodded and followed Ori around as he showed Bilbo how they organised all of the books and scrolls. It was done by date and then by alphabet.

“One day a week one of the scribes is given the duty to reorganise all the out of place books and to put away all the books returned the day before. Anybody in the kingdom can come to borrow any of the copied books.” Ori explained. “But all the originals are kept separate, only the scribes are allowed access to them.”

“That makes sense, that way they don’t get ruined by accident.” Bilbo nodded, observing several books kept in a glass case. “So what do we do when not organising?”

“Translations mostly, after the fall of Erebor most of our books were destroyed. Dwarfs of the Iron Hills and the Elves of Rivendell have been kind enough to send us many books every year. We transcribe them and send them back. We have managed to replace much of the library that stood in Erebor. Of course, some treasures were lost but we can now take great pride in our library again.”

“Ah that’s a wonderful system. It’s nice of the other dwarfs and elves to send you the books.” Bilbo smiled, feeling his heart drop in sadness that all of his books, the books his father had collected were now gone.

“Yes it is.” Ori smiled and led Bilbo back to the desks. There already sat a stack of books on Ori’s desk and he halved them, giving half to Bilbo and keeping half himself. “You should be fine transcribing these, they are all either in Sindarin or Common. I’m one of two scribes who can read elvish tongues so I rarely get to translate Khuzdul texts.”

Bilbo smiled at Ori and sat down behind the desk.

Ori handed him a pot of ink and a quill to use and then opened his own book and became immersed. Bilbo looked around a moment longer, taking in the sight and smell of all the books before he opened his own text, a Sindarin book of poetry and became lost in the world of letters.

* * *

The sharp snapping shut of a book drew Bilbo back and he blinked a moment up at Ori who was standing in front of his desk.

“I am going to go to the kitchens to get lunch, would you like to come Bilbo? It does some good to stretch your legs.” Bilbo smiled brightly and left his book open to allow the ink to dry. He had managed to copy a great many poems, almost to the middle of the book, though he was saddened that he would be unable to copy some of the brilliant illustrations in the Sindarin text.

Bilbo followed Ori down a long set of stairs and about halfway down Bilbo could smell the kitchens.

The kitchens were much bigger than any Bilbo had seen before, and there were about twenty dwarfs hurrying about, no doubt sorting out food of the numerous staff that worked in royal section of the mountain.

“Bilbo!” Bilbo turned to be embraced by Saradoc. “Come for lunch? Here try some of my bread, freshly baked. Oh and have some of Eglantine’s soup. It’s brilliant.”

“Oh and let your friend have some too.” Eglantine chirped from somewhere behind him.

Before he knew what was happening, both he and Ori were corralled into a small set of tables and chairs with a bowl of soup and some herby bread set in front of them. Saradoc and Eglantine came over a few minutes later with their own food.

“How’s working in the kitchens then?” Bilbo asked and smiled when his friend’s faces lit up.

“Oh it’s fantastic! Bombur, he’s in charge, he discovered that we have some talent for creating new dishes and set us to baking all morning so he could taste our talents. This afternoon we’re going to be on desert, we’re going to make Saradoc’s cherry tarts. Only we’ll be making them a great deal bigger so they can be split and shared with many.” Eglantine gushed.

“What about you? What’s the library like?”

“It’s so big! There are so many copies of books and scrolls. I could lose myself for days there.” He smiled at Ori. “And the company’s wonderful too.”

“Ah you must be the Master Baggins that rescued the Shire and brought these two marvellous cooks to my kitchens!” The loud voice made Bilbo jump. It belonged to a massive dwarf, with a fantastically braided red beard that fell in a loop over his massive stomach. He grinned jovially at Bilbo and shook his hand heartily. “I am Bombur. At your service. I have honestly never met anyone with skills in the kitchen to match my own before!”

“Oh… uh… it’s a pleasure to meet you. Bilbo Baggins at your service.” He smiled and Bombur let go of his hand. The dwarf shifted into the seat beside Ori.

“Hello there Ori, the library treating you well?” Bombur asked and Ori nodded.

“Yes thank you Bombur. How’s Tomil? Any better?” Ori asked.

“Much better. Mira was up with him all night but he’s over the worst of it now.” Bombur beamed, before explaining for the hobbits’ benefits. “Tomil’s my wee lad. My youngest, he’s had the most terrible flu for the last week. Been dreadful it has. But all’s well that ends well. He’s on his way to playing with his brothers soon.”

“How many children do you have?” Bilbo asked politely.

“Five. All boys.” Bombur said proudly.

“All boys!” Eglantine cried. “Goodness that must be a handful, I’ve only got one boy myself and he’s a handful enough.”

“You have a girl?” Bombur asked and Eglantine shook her head.

“Oh no I have three, triplets.” Eglantine said smiling brightly. To their surprise Ori startled so badly that he knocked over his now empty soup bowl and both he and Bombur were both suddenly very pale.

“Triplets?” Ori gasped.

“…Yes? My three girls, Pearl, Pimpernel and Pervinca.” Eglantine said, bewildered at their actions.

“How on earth did you survive?” Bombur asked, his eyes wide.

“Survive?” Eglantine let out a surprised laugh. “Well it wasn’t an easy birth but it was nothing too out of the ordinary.”

“By Mahal…” Ori whispered.

“Are triplets not common amongst dwarfs?” Saradoc asked and Bombur shook his head.

“They are unheard of, pregnancy is difficult on our females as it is. To be told she is baring twins is a death sentence.” Bombur said gravely and Bilbo’s mouth dropped open.

“But you just said your wife had five children?” He asked and Bombur nodded.

“And very proud of it too, but there was much space between their births. My two eldest are well into their hundreds now, and my middle two: fifty and seventy three, my youngest is not yet twenty.”

“Oh, well it must be a difference amongst dwarfs and hobbits. Hobbit births usually go fine, it is painful of course, but it is rare to lose a hobbit lass from the birth.” Saradoc said.

“By Mahal, triplets.” Bombur breathed, sharing an awe filled look with Ori. “And all girls! Mahal must have blessed your family.”

“I would like to think so, but having girls and boys are generally about equal among hobbits.” Eglantine explained before changing the topic to a recipe for Bombur’s upside down pineapple cake.

After lunch Ori led Bilbo back to the library and they sat down amongst their books.

It was another few hours before Bilbo was disturbed, this time by a loud thump of a book hitting the floor. He startled and looked around for the source of the noise. To his surprise it was Dwalin who was sheepishly picking up one of the common books. He glanced in their direction before taking the book to a seating area not very far away.

“I wouldn’t think Dwalin the sort to enjoy a good book.” Bilbo said smiling as he turned to Ori, but to his surprise Ori was bright red and studying his book intently. “Ori are you well?”

“Yes, yes, I’m fine. Mister Dwalin comes in after his morning shifts with Thorin, always for a few hours.” Ori said quickly, his blush deepening and suddenly Bilbo understood.

“Oh.” He smiled, but said no more. It was a cruel thing to poke fun at someone’s crush. Though he would have to poke around about Dwalin’s feelings for the scribe. He was only a good friend of course, and Dwalin could not be in the library to read, unless Bilbo had completely misread his personality. But he distinctly remembered Dwalin scoffing at Balin when he had mentioned reading something from an ancient book in the library.

* * *

“Oh and then Balin let me sort through several other finance books. Honestly I don’t know how he worked with the dunderheads under his command before now. There were so many mistakes! It will take me weeks to sort through!” Despite the nature of his words Paladin had a bright grin on his face and was practically glowing with excitement.

“That’s wonderful Pal. I’m glad you enjoy working there.” He smiled and Paladin nodded.

“That sounds dreadfully boring.” Lobelia drawled from where she was laid on one of the couches in the living room, blatantly listening in on their conversation.

“Oh really? And what did you and my sister do all afternoon? Look at china patterns?” Paladin shot back and Lobelia rolled her eyes.

“Don’t be ridiculous, this is a festival we’re organising not a dinner party. We were organising the decorations for the marketplace.” Lobelia sniffed.

“Oh Bilbo! You’ll have to come see the marketplace! It’s so big; there is so much to buy!” Esmeralda cried. “We’ll have to go at the end of the week when we are all off work.”

“That sounds nice.” Bilbo smiled.

“Mister Bilbo?” Hamfast’s voice drifted from down his corridor and Bilbo excused himself, quickly making his way to the Gamgees’ rooms.

“What do you need Ham?” He asked, Hamfast glared at him from the bed.

“I need to get out of this bed. I need to stretch my legs and would like to sit upright for dinner.” Hamfast stated and Bilbo frowned.

“I don’t know Ham, surely you should rest another day?”

“Nonsense. I am fine. A little weak I am sure, but the only way I will get my strength back is by moving.” Hamfast stated. “Now, get Saradoc and help me hobble into the kitchen.”

Bilbo pursed his lips, thinking what to do. In the end he decided to do as Hamfast asked, the gardener would most likely try to get up himself if they did not help him and who knows what sorts of trouble he would do to his leg then.

With Saradoc’s help, it only took a few minutes to move Hamfast from his bed into the kitchen; they sat him down on the end chair and gave him a stool to rest his foot on. He was pale and sweating from the exertion but didn’t seem to be in too much pain; though Bilbo resolved to watch him carefully and make sure he did not overdo it.

Dinner was a quiet affair compared with the last few nights as the royals were suspiciously absent. Merry felt their loss most keenly; he kept glancing at the door and asking for Fili and Kili.

Bilbo found himself missing the extra joviality the royals brought, without them to fill the gaps it was all too easy to remember how many they were, they numbered only fifteen. Fifteen hobbits out of all of the Shire had survived. It was a haunting thought, one with so many implications, implications that Bilbo did not want to think on.

That night Bilbo didn’t go to his own bed, he instead crawled in beside Frodo, clutching at the boy closely. Praying to Yavanna to take away the bad dreams the little one was having. To give them to him instead. He hated the thought of Frodo reliving the horrors of the attacks. It must have been so very horrifying for it to have stripped Frodo of his speech for so long, that he was only just beginning to talk again.

Bilbo fell asleep that night with thoughts of all those they had lost drifting through his mind.


	8. Mining and Farming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm not afraid to admit I stole the idea for the farming methods from The Host

That first week passed in a blur of activity. Every morning Ori would come to collect Bilbo from their rooms and lead him to the library, they would break for lunch with Bombur, Saradoc and Eglantine before making their way back to the library where they worked until supper. It was long but rewarding work and it kept Bilbo so busy that when the end of the week came by Bilbo found himself wondering what to do with himself.

Saradoc and Esmeralda had decided to take Merry and go visit the markets but they had left early, and Bilbo had still been asleep when they had left. Paladin and Eglantine were making the most of their day off, and Bilbo knew they would not be out of bed for another few hours. Lobelia was curled into an armchair with a book and Hamfast and his fauntlings were all still asleep.

“So, what shall I do today?” He asked himself, wondering if perhaps he should take Frodo down to the market after lunch. Before he came up with an answer there was a knock at the door. Bilbo’s eyebrows rose in surprise. The royals were their only visitors and they only ever visited them at meal times, they were much too busy during the day to call on the hobbits. However, when Bilbo answered the door, it was Thorin who stood the other side.

The King took a step back when Bilbo answered the door and Bilbo’s heart sank. He supposed the king was here to ask something of one of the other hobbits.

“Your Highness, would you like to come in?” He asked and Thorin shook his head.

“No… uh… my apologies. I was wondering if you might like to accompany me down to the mines. I heard you mention to Dís the other night that you thought they sounded fascinating.” Bilbo was sure his eyebrows were lost in his hairline. Thorin had barely spoken two words to Bilbo this whole week at dinner and now suddenly he was asking Bilbo to ‘accompany him’. “Of course I understand if you do not wish to.”

“No! No, I would like to. I would really like to.” Bilbo stammered. “Just, uh, would it be okay if Frodo came too?”

“Of course.” Thorin actually smiled at him then and Bilbo felt his heart stutter in his chest.

“I’ll be a few minutes just to get ready. Please come in.” Bilbo said hurriedly, he left the door open and practically ran towards his rooms. Frodo on his was reading a book Bilbo had borrowed for him from the library. “Frodo, the king has asked if we want to go see the mines with him. Do you want to come?”

Frodo nodded and carefully placed the book down on his bedside table. Bilbo smiled and quickly rang his fingers through Frodo’s hair and his own; he frowned as he pulled at Frodo’s clothes, then his own. He really needed to get them some new ones. Perhaps he would ask Ori or Bombur if they knew of a good tailor that would accept a tab until he got his first pay check in a week or two.

They hurried back to the living room and Bilbo smiled at Thorin who was waiting politely at the door. He still couldn’t understand why Thorin would ask him and not one of the other hobbits but he wasn’t about to question it. He needed the king to like him if they were going to continue living in the Blue Mountains after all.

Frodo clutched at Bilbo’s hand as they left their apartments.

“So… how are you finding your job at the library?” Thorin asked after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence. Bilbo let out a breath of relief, he just could not think of a single thing to say to the King.

“It’s fantastic. There are so many different texts to translate! Yesterday I translated an old healing journal from the Iron Hills. It was very interesting, though I’m afraid my copy will be less informative without the illustrations.” Bilbo said and Thorin nodded.

“It is the peril of our having to copy books to increase our library here. But I have often thought of sending out a job request for someone with artistic ability to come and start illustrating some of our more treasured texts.” Thorin said and Bilbo nodded.

“That’s a brilliant idea, not that the texts aren’t enough on their own to spark the imagination but sometimes illustrations do help one to focus.” Bilbo smiled at Thorin who gave him a small one back and Bilbo felt his spirits rise. Perhaps the king did not dislike him after all.

There was another few minutes of silence, where neither of them could think of what to say.

“Frodo.” The boy started when he was addressed by the king, but he looked up and nodded. “How are you enjoying your stay in the apartments? Do you like your rooms?”

Frodo nodded and Bilbo squeezed his hand trying to encourage the boy to speak. He had been speaking more and more this last week, but still almost nothing compared to how he used to chatter on. Before the attack he had made even Merry seem quiet.

“Yes… thank you.” Frodo whispered and Thorin smiled warmly down at him. “Bed’s big.”

“Yes I suppose they are rather big.” Thorin mused. “Especially for one so small.”

Frodo’s nose wrinkled at being called small and Thorin chuckled, it warmed Bilbo’s heart to see how gentle the king was with his nephew.

“Not small.” Frodo murmured.

“Of course, I imagine for a hobbit your age you are quite tall.” Thorin said and Frodo nodded.

“Second tallest.” He said softly and Thorin nodded, listening intently. “Merry’s taller.”

“Ah but that might be because he’s always riding around on Fili’s shoulders. I bet we all think he’s taller than he is.” Thorin smiled at Frodo and to Bilbo’s delight the fauntling smiled back.

“Yes Merry is quite taken with Fili and Kili.” Bilbo said and Thorin rolled his eyes.

“My nephews with him too, and all the other fauntlings beside. I fear you may wake one morning to find them all stolen away, and we will search and search only to find them tucked away in the boys’ rooms.” Thorin shook his head fondly and Bilbo’s smile widened.

They spoke of small matters as they walked deeper and deeper into the mountain and before long Bilbo could hear the sharp clanging of metal on rock, they walked down one last corridor and came to stand on a balcony above a cavern miles and miles deep. Filled with contraptions holding dwarfs against the sides of the carven, all mining for precious metals and gems.

“Wow.” He whispered in awe. “It is so deep.”

He leant over the edge of the balcony; craning his neck to see how far down the mines went.

“Yes, several miles and this is not even our deepest mine. There is one in the eastern edge of the mountains that goes down three times as far.” Thorin stated and Bilbo’s mouth dropped open. It seemed impossible to even imagine something so deep. He couldn’t even see the bottom of this mine.

“What sorts of metals do you mine from them?” Bilbo asked, lifting Frodo so he could see over the edge of the balcony, though he made sure to keep a firm arm around his nephew’s middle.

“There are many precious metals in these mines. Mainly silver, though we have found streams of gold and a few mithril. There are also many common metals found, and some precious gems.” Thorin explained and Bilbo nodded.

“This is amazing, to have dug so deep.” He said.

“Yes, but we have been working these mines for almost a hundred and seventy years now. Ever since we lost Erebor and came here. You should have seen them when we began, with so few of us too. It took many years to even reach a point of sustainability.” Thorin said proudly and Bilbo nodded once more. They fell silent as Bilbo studied the rows upon rows of miners below him. “… Would you perhaps like to see the fields where we grow our crops? I know hobbits are fond of such things?”

“You have fields?” Bilbo asked surprised, he had not thought of how the food they had been eating got there but he had mostly assumed it was through trade.

“Yes.” Thorin chuckled. “We learnt from our mistakes in Erebor, learning that we cannot survive off trade alone. Especially with how far out we are from the other civilisations. So, many of the upper levels have become farming levels.”

“I would love to see how it works!” Bilbo said before flushing. “I… uh, I mean if it’s not too much trouble.”

“It is no trouble at all. I offered did I not?” Thorin smiled at him and Bilbo’s flush deepened. Thorin had a very nice smile.

Thorin led them up numerous staircases and corridors until Bilbo was sure that they could not climb any further without reaching the peak of the mountains. But the sight they reached at the end was worth it.

It was astounding to see, but after the last staircase levelled out into a field of what Bilbo thought looked like wheat. There were several different fields spotted around the plateau and plants grew as far as Bilbo could see. What was the most stunning thing though, was the sun. Bilbo could actually feel the sun on his cheeks. He had not realised until that moment how much he had missed the outside, feeling the heat of the sun revived him more than he thought possible.

“This… This…” He could not even finish the sentence too overwhelmed.

Thorin seemed to understand this, and did not speak for several minutes, allowing Bilbo to regain himself.

“Thank you.” Bilbo’s voice was coarse. “For showing me this.”

“It is but a small thing.” Thorin smiled softly at him.

“How do you get the sun?” Bilbo asked, craning his neck upwards to try and catch a glimpse of the sky, but all he could see was stone, and the occasional glimpse of what he thought was silver.

“This area of the mountains has quite porous rock, it was a simple matter of breaking through the uppermost crust of rock and then we attached mirrors to reflect the light down into the crops.” Thorin pointed to where Bilbo had seen the glint of silver, and when he focused on it he could see it was actually a large silver mirror.

“That’s ingenious!” Bilbo cried. He shook his head, still trying to overcome the wonderful feeling of being outside. “Whoever thought you could grow crops underground.”

“We have a reservoir of water that collects from the rain also; it is up between those large rocks. We have a system set up with a series of pulleys and trenches so we can control the flow of it down to irrigate the crops.” Thorin said and Bilbo nodded. It really was a rather ingenious method.

They stayed amongst the crops for a long while. Wandering through the different fields, observing the different crops and the irrigation system. It wasn’t long before Bilbo was so relaxed that he almost forgot that he was walking with a king.

“Dwalin and my siblings and I used to hide amongst these crops when the stress of our duties came to be too much. We would steal away with our weapons and simply spar until we were too exhausted to do anything else.” Thorin was smiling fondly as they approached what appeared to be an orchard. At the mention of Dwalin, Bilbo remembered the warrior’s odd behaviour and he wondered if he should ask Thorin about it.

“Dwalin comes to the library often.” He said carefully and Thorin stiffened, frowning at Bilbo.

“He does?”

“Yes. He comes in after lunch on most days. Ori says he comes after his morning shift with you?” Bilbo asked and Thorin nodded, though the frown remained on his face.

“He and I train the boys in the mornings and then I usually have meetings in the afternoons so I let Dwalin do whatever he wishes.” Bilbo nodded smiling.

“I never took him to be the sort to enjoy books.” Bilbo said and Thorin shook his head.

“Apparently I do not know my friend as well as I thought either.” The King grumbled but Bilbo smiled, surely this meant that Dwalin was at the library for someone if not for the books.

“I have a theory.” Bilbo found himself sharing, perhaps it was the kindness the king had shown him, or perhaps it was the sun on his cheeks, he did not know, but he thought to have someone to conspire with in order to get Ori and Dwalin together.

“Please, share it with me for I can think of no good reason Dwalin has for being in the library.” Thorin said.

“I think he likes Ori.” Bilbo said quickly and Thorin’s frown disappeared to be replaced with shock.

“Dwalin and _Ori_? That little scribe?” Thorin asked and Bilbo felt affronted for the sake of his friend.

“Ori is a very fine dwarf I will have you know.” He snapped and Thorin shook his head.

“I did not mean it in that way. Just that Dwalin has rarely shown interest in anyone before, and Ori is very much not his type.” Thorin said and Bilbo shrugged.

“Maybe it was love at first sight?” He only meant it as a joke, but Thorin stiffened completely.

“No. Dwalin does not have a One.” He said stiffly and Bilbo frowned.

“One?” He asked and when Thorin turned away he could have sworn he saw the king’s ears turn red.

“It is not of import.” The king said and Bilbo decided to let it go, it wasn’t relevant to his goals anyway.

“So, despite Ori not being Dwalin’s ‘type’, do you think he has a chance?” Bilbo asked and Thorin looked thoughtful for a moment.

“It is not unfeasible. Though unlikely. I cannot think of another good reason for Dwalin to be hanging about the library.” Thorin said and Bilbo grinned.

“Brilliant!” He cried.

“Why is that brilliant?” Thorin asked.

“Because I know for a fact that Ori fancies Dwalin back. I for one think they will make a marvellous couple. They balance each other out perfectly.” Bilbo said smiling brightly and Thorin tilted his head, looking confused.

“Is that how hobbits gage whether their intended is good for them? That they have nothing in common?” Bilbo chuckled and shook his head.

“No, not at all. It’s just a saying we have that ‘opposites attract’, it means that sometimes for no good reason two people who are complete opposites find themselves married. It was like that with my parents. My mother being the adventurous Took that she was and my father was the epitome of a Baggins.” Bilbo said smiling fondly at the memory of his parents. He clutched a little tighter at Frodo’s hand at the memories.

“Ah, I see.” Thorin said. “Perhaps I will ask Dwalin about it when I next see him…”

“No!” Bilbo cried and Thorin turned to him in surprise.

“Why not?” He asked.

“Because, Dwalin is the type to completely close up if someone mentioned something of this nature to him. No. If we are going to get these two together it must be done with stealth, and cunning and a great deal of courage.” Bilbo said rubbing his jaw as he thought.

“Courage?” Thorin asked and Bilbo grinned wickedly.

“Of course, it will take some courage to manipulate anyone as scary as Dwalin.” Thorin just shook his head and laughed in delight. His One truly was the most magnificent creature in all of middle earth.


	9. Clothes

Bilbo stared down at his clothes with ever increasing ire. He had found that living in the same pair of clothes for a week, now that he had the presence of mind to focus on it, was increasingly depressing and irritating in equal measure. Especially when he glanced at Thorin as they wandered the fields and he found himself admiring the fine embroidery on Thorin’s tunic, he felt vastly underdressed. It felt even crueller when he looked down at Frodo and examined the bedraggled state of what had once been Samwise’s clothing.

“What troubles you Master Baggins?” Bilbo looked up in surprise to find Thorin watching him, he blushed when he realised that Thorin had probably asked him a question.

“Oh, nothing. Don’t worry yourself about it.” Bilbo smiled but Thorin’s frown deepened.

“I would have you tell me what ails you.” Thorin said.

“A-Alright.” Bilbo couldn’t help but stammer in the face of such an intense look. Thorin looked as if he was willing to go to Mordor and back to ensure Bilbo wasn’t upset. Bilbo supposed that it was something Thorin gained from being King, a deep worry about his subjects, even his temporary ones. “I just need to buy Frodo and myself some new clothes, and probably some for Hamfast and his fauntlings too. But we don’t get paid until next week so I either need to find a tailor who is willing to put my clothes on a tab or suffer through another week in these clothes.”

Thorin looked down at Bilbo’s clothes in surprise as if it was the first time he was seeing them.

“You only needed to ask. I shall bring you to a tailor.” Thorin said and Bilbo blushed shaking his head.

“No, no, I need to pay for the clothes myself.” Thorin frowned at him, not understanding. “I know you don’t understand why we feel that way. But we already feel like we’re already so indebted to your family. I need to do this one thing without any assistance.”

“I… understand not wishing to be in debt. Though none of my family would hold you so.” Thorin said slowly though the frown did not leave his face. “What if I were to take you to the tailor and have him make the clothes on the good faith that you will pay him with the first of your money?”

“That would be wonderful! Thank you.” Bilbo said smiling gratefully at Thorin who nodded looking away.

“Come, we shall go to the marketplace.” Thorin said before striding ahead. Bilbo and Frodo had to jog slightly to keep up with him.

The marketplace was every bit as wonderful as Esmeralda and Lobelia had promised. If it weren’t for the fact that it was in a massive underground cavern Bilbo could almost have thought he was back in the Shire. The long street had smaller caves with carved doors engraved with dwarfish runes which must have been the more permanent shops, but the stalls with their brightly coloured tops and their wonderful wears were what made Bilbo’s chest ache fiercely for home.

Thorin led them along to one of the permanent shops and when they entered Bilbo’s mind was immediately blown by all the coloured fabric that hung in reals on the walls. The cave-like shop looked nothing like it was carved from stone from the inside and had Bilbo not known any better he might have thought they were in any other shop. The shop branched off both deeper into the wall and through to the left which when Bilbo glanced down the passageway led into another room filled with coloured cloth.

“Oh! Your Majesty!” A grey haired dwarf with intricately braided hair and beard. He blustered forward quickly. “How may I help you?”

“Hello Dori. I was wondering if I might ask a favour of you?” Thorin asked.

“Of course.” The silver haired dwarf smiled widely.

“My guest Master Baggins and his nephew Frodo Baggins are in need of clothes.” Dori looked beyond the king to Bilbo and his eyes narrowed when they took in the state of his clothing. “I have offered to pay for them but as a matter of pride Master Baggins has refused.”

Bilbo couldn’t help but smile and shake his head at how put-out the King sounded.

“He does not get paid until the end of next week? Could you possibly make the clothes on my word that they will be paid for?” Dori just nodded happily.

“Of course, of course. I would do it just for the honour of meeting the hobbits that everyone has been talking about all week. My little brother hasn’t shut up about you since you began working together.” Bilbo startled and took a closer look at the dwarf.

“You’re Ori’s older brother?” He exclaimed a grin lighting up his face. “I knew you looked familiar!”

“Yes, now come with me Master Baggins and I’ll get you sorted with some proper clothes that will last you until I can make you some to fit.” Bilbo began to protest but Dori wouldn’t hear of anyone leaving his shop in the rags Bilbo had entered in. He bustled Bilbo onto a podium and started measuring the width of Bilbo’s hips and shoulders. He tutted at how narrow they were and told Bilbo he needed to eat more. Bilbo glanced down at the written measurements and his eyes widened. He had never been a particularly portly hobbit but to be so very skinny. It was not good.

Once Bilbo had been measured he helped Frodo up onto the podium and held his hand while Dori started measuring him. He couldn’t help but smile at the softened approach Dori took to dealing with Frodo, he was obviously used to looking after younglings. Bilbo said as much.

“Ah that comes from having two younger brothers I suppose. Our Mother and Father died when we were quite young. Nori was barely in his thirties and Ori just a babe. I raised them both.” Dori said smiling.

“Now come on. I don’t really being bossy counts as ‘raising’ two dwarflings.” Bilbo started and spun to the door to find two new dwarfs had entered the room. The one that had obviously spoken was a dwarf that looked remarkably like Ori, though his hair was styled into three peaks in a bizarre hairstyle. The other was wearing an odd sort of hat that curled up at the ends

“Your Majesty.” The one in the hat said with wide eyes bowing down to Thorin who smiled tightly. The one with the strange hair just nodded with a quirk of the lips.

“So is this the famous Mister Baggins?” The dwarf grinned at Bilbo and bowed deeply towards him. “Nori, at your service.”

“Oh… uh. Bilbo Baggins at yours.” Bilbo stuttered blushing at the display. Nori’s grin widened as he straightened.

“Enough of that you.” The dwarf in the hat hit Nori hard on the shoulder, Nori didn’t look the slightest bit repentant though Bilbo noticed that Thorin seemed extremely annoyed that he had bowed to Bilbo and not to the royalty. The dwarf in the hat smiled genially at Bilbo. “Bofur, son of Lomb at your service.”

“Oh! Are you Bombur’s brother?” Bilbo asked and Bofur’s smile widened.

“That I am. He’s quite taken with those new hobbits he works with, says both of them can do miracles with pastry.” Bilbo chuckled.

“Yes, they were both well known for it back in the Shire.” Bofur seemed to notice Frodo then, the lad watching the new people with cautious eyes.

“Oh hello there _Mimûn_.” He said softly before holding his hand out to Bilbo’s nephew. “And what’s your name?”

“…Frodo.” The boy whispered and Bofur smiled brightly at him.

“That’s a nice name. You’re in good hands here. Dori makes the best clothes.” Bofur told Frodo seriously. The lad looked up to Dori who nodded solemnly before winking at him. Bofur riffled around in his sleeves for a moment before drawing out a small wooden soldier. It was a miniature dwarven guard. “Here. I made him earlier.”

Frodo glanced to Bilbo who nodded before he took the toy carefully in his hands.

“Thank you.” Frodo whispered and Bofur just waved him off.

“I’m a toymaker by trade. If I don’t have a toy on my person at any one time then I’m doing something wrong.” He grinned at Bilbo who smiled gratefully at him.

“Why don’t you go find something useful to do Nori while Master Baggins picks out some clothes?” Dori said dryly when Nori started sidling closer to Bilbo. “Go on out with the both of you! You’re ruining my business.”

“I’ll keep him busy no problem!” Bofur grinned before dragging Nori from the shop. “It was nice meeting you Mister Baggins, Frodo. Your Majesty.”

Bilbo startled and realised he had forgotten that Thorin was still there. The King seemed once again angry at something, he glared out of the door at Nori and Bilbo just shrugged it off. It wasn’t his business.

Dori ushered them into a changing room and demanded they try on multitudes of outfits. None of them quite fit Bilbo right, being dwarf clothing but they were all so much better than the outfit he had been wearing. He chose two tunics and a pair of breeches that were probably a size to small by dwarven standards but Bilbo didn’t like the feeling of material around his ankles. He let Frodo pick out a few clothes for himself.

“Now the main question, would you like your new clothes to be in the style of what you were wearing before?” Dori asked.

“Oh in the Shire style if possible.” Bilbo said. He couldn’t imagine having to work his way through all the buckles and laces that dwarven clothing seemed to require. Not that it didn’t look good on the dwarfs, but he didn’t imagine he pulled it off very well. He sketched out a rough idea of what the clothes looked like when new and Dori nodded humming to himself at certain points.

“Well met Master Baggins, I’ll let Ori know when the clothes are done and you can come collect them.” Dori smiled at him and Bilbo thanked him before a thought struck him.

“Um, I know this might be asking a lot, but would it be possible for you to make a house call? Two of my fellow hobbits are quite confined to our rooms and won’t be able to make it down to the market quite yet.” Dori seemed even cheerier at the notion if possible.

“Oh that’s no problem at all. Perhaps tomorrow morning?” Dori asked. Bilbo thanked him once again when they were completely finished and Dori just waved him off saying that a friend of Ori’s was a friend of his own. Bilbo gathered Frodo into his arms, the boy looked quite odd in the dwarfling clothing he was in but it was only for a few days so Bilbo didn’t mind.

“Thank you so much for taking us there!” Bilbo smiled brightly at Thorin who seemed to have calmed down slightly from Nori and Bofur’s visit.

“It is no problem.” Thorin said softly.

“I had no idea that Dori was a cloth merchant. Ori only mentioned his brothers briefly.” Bilbo said happily. “And imagine the coincidence that his brother is friends with Bombur’s brother. Bombur speaks quite often of Bofur.”

Thorin’s expression darkened again and Bilbo bit his lip, perhaps it would be best not to mention the two dwarfs who for some reason seemed to enrage the King so much. They fell into an awkward silence as they made their way back up to the hobbit’s rooms.


	10. Bofur's One

Bilbo’s mind wandered as he gently massaged Pippin’s shins. His work in the library finished roughly an hour or so before the other hobbits, as such he took it upon himself to do some of the exercises Óin had recommended to keep the muscle tone in Pippin’s limbs. It became painfully obvious how thin the boy truly was once you realised you could wrap your whole hand around the middle of his shin.

Bilbo sighed; it was too painful to linger on thoughts of Pippin’s recovery. Instead he thought about his outing with Thorin. It had seemed to be going so well until the tailors.

They had actually seemed to be getting along and then something about Nori and Bofur had gotten the King upset and he hadn’t made any other attempts at conversation with Bilbo on the way back to the hobbit’s rooms.

Bilbo tried to remember if he’d said something to upset the dwarf but he’d barely spoke to the king when they were in Dori’s… Maybe that was it? Maybe the king was annoyed he had ignored him when he was getting his clothes done… Bilbo couldn’t help but scoff. The king surely just had other things on his mind. He had a kingdom to run for Yavanna’s sake. One hobbit wasn’t going to make any difference in the King’s life.

Bilbo focussed on Pippin’s leg once more and dug his fingers a little deeper. He froze when he felt the muscle beneath his hands twitch. His eyes shot up to Pippin’s face but it remained as blank as always. It had just been his imagination, he wasn’t sleeping as well as he could be. He started to lift Pippin’s leg towards the fauntling’s chest.

“-‘rts…” Bilbo dropped the leg and was hovering over Pippin’s face a second later.

“Pippin? Pippin can you hear me?” Bilbo waited a few long moments and then the boy’s forehead creased.

“ncle…bo.”

“Yes it’s me Pippin. It’s Uncle Bilbo. Can you open your eyes for me my boy? Come on, just open them for me.” It took a few minutes but eventually Pippin cracked open one eyelid. Bilbo felt a tension he knew all of the hobbits had been carrying unravel within him and he squeezed Pippin’s hand hard.

“…Mum…Dad…” Pippin mumbled.

“They’re fine. They’ll be here soon. I promise.” Pippin nodded and his eyes slipped closed again. Bilbo looked between the door and the bed. He didn’t want to leave Pippin alone, not now that he was finally awake. But the others needed to know he was awake.

Bilbo hurried over to the doorway.

“Pim!” He shouted, the girl had been practising her knitting last he had seen, she was the one closest to him.

It only took a moment for her to appear. A frown pulled at her brow when she saw his expression.

“I need you to go get your Mum and Dad.” He said and her frown deepened as she glanced into the room.

“Why? Is something wrong with Pippin?” She asked, he grabbed her shoulders and squeezed tightly.

“He’s waking up. You need to go get your Mum and Dad. Go for your Dad first, he’ll be easier to find. Your Mum said she was working in the marketplace so ask Master Balin to send a messenger for her. Then go get Óin. Do you remember the way to the healer’s quarters?” She nodded and after a few seconds of staring at her brother’s prone body she was gone in a flurry of skirts.

Bilbo hurried back to the fauntling’s side.

“Pippin? Are you still awake?” He asked and the boy nodded slowly.

“Feel… fuzzy.” He muttered.

“Don’t worry about that. You’ve been asleep for a long time. We were all quite worried about you.” Bilbo said softly. He was stopped from saying any more by the sudden arrival of all of the fauntlings. Within seconds they had gathered around the bed and were all asking a million questions a minute.

“Whoa, whoa now all of you need to be quiet. Pippin’s probably got a bad headache and he might need to go back to sleep.” Bilbo said firmly and instantly the fauntlings fell silent. Merry, who had claimed a position close to Pippin’s head, reached out and tugged on one of his curls.

“Hey Pip. How’re you feeling?” He whispered.

“Tired.” Pippin mumbled, though Bilbo smiled to notice he leant into his cousin’s touch.

“That’s silly. You’ve been sleeping for _ages_!” Merry exclaimed in a loud whisper.

“…Sssorry.” Bilbo frowned at how Pippin’s words slurred. “…Orrrcs?”

“Yeah they came to the Shire but Uncle Bilbo rescued us so now we’re living with dwarves in the Blue Mountains. It’s really fun because I’ve got these two dwarves called Fili and Kili and they’re princes but they aren’t at all like storybook princes. Their Uncle Thorin is King and he’s the son of the prince Uncle Bilbo told us about in his stories!” Bilbo sighed when he saw the confused look on Pippin’s face.

“Merry you might have to slow down a bit for Pippin. He might get a bit confused.” Merry nodded smiling brightly.

“That’s alright Pip. It’s just like when you broke your arm last year, only ‘stead of not running everywhere now I just got to talk slower.” Pippin nodded, a small smile tugging at his lips.

“Sssleep?” He asked and Bilbo squeezed his hand.

“Can you just try and stay awake a little bit longer my boy? Your Mum and Dad will really want to see you.” Pippin nodded even though Bilbo could tell he was fighting to keep his eyes open.

They didn’t have to wait long. Soon enough the door to the room was slammed open and Paladin skidded into the room, his hair wild from his mad run there and his eyes wide.

“Pip?” He demanded running to the bed. Pippin’s blinked his eyes wider and tried to smile at his Dad. “Oh thank the Valar! Pippin! You’re awake!”

“Dad…” Pippin murmured. “Sssleep now?”

“Oh Pip, it’s alright, you can go back to sleep. We’ll be here when you wake up okay?” Pippin nodded and almost instantly his breathing evened out and his eyes slid shut.

Paladin turned to his daughters who rushed to his sides to hug him. Bilbo grinned when his friend caught his eye and Paladin grinned back through his tears.

“He’s awake!”

-

Over the next week Pippin woke more and more frequently, at first for barely a few minutes at a time but then the stretches of consciousness began to lengthen. Merry and the other fauntlings had taken to doing their lessons in Pippin’s rooms so that whenever he woke there was someone there to remind him where he was and why they were there. Little to Bilbo’s surprise Fili and Kili, after learning that the smallest hobbit was waking, spent as much time as they could in the hobbits’ quarters and more than once Bilbo had returned at lunch or teatime to find Dwalin dragging the dwarfs about by their ears and back to their duties.

It was amazing what a different one fauntling could make. The hobbits had been in better spirits ever since arriving at the Blue Mountains but Pippin’s coma had weighed heavily on their mind. To have the little one recover elated them more than any festival ever could have.

Despite the wonderful news however, Bilbo’s mind couldn’t help but be split. In the quiet moments he managed to catch, after the fauntlings were asleep and the other adults were engrossed in their own lives, his mind wandered back to the King. He just couldn’t figure out why in Yavanna’s name the dwarf refused to speak to him again, he felt like he was constantly wracking his brain over what he had said and what he could have done differently. And when his mind wasn’t going over what went wrong it was running over the reasons that the King had asked him out in the first place. These reasons went from the utterly boring (getting to know the hobbits in his kingdom) to the outright ridiculous (for a few seconds Bilbo had found himself wondering if the King had found him attractive).

It was lucky that within this week that Bilbo found new friends to distract him. Bofur and Nori had started to join him and Ori and the other hobbits in the kitchens for lunch, claiming that they wanted to spend more time with their siblings. However Bilbo had a suspicion that it was more about the fact that three hobbits (apparently the talk of the kingdom) spent their lunchtimes in the kitchen.

Bilbo found Bofur an absolute delight, while the dwarf wasn’t very well read he was still spectacularly bright and Bilbo could spend hours lost in pleasant conversation with the toymaker. Nori on the other hand took some time to get used to, he no doubt had a sharp wit and a quick tongue that could have Bilbo in peals of laughter, he also however flirted with almost everyone on sight and it was only after Bilbo had realised that it was mostly harmless that he started to relax around Ori’s middle brother.

The other hobbits soon fell in love with Bofur just as Bilbo had, when, one evening Bilbo invited the dwarf back for dinner and he had spent the entirety of the evening being climbed over by fauntlings shouting out requests for toys. He’d returned the next evening with his arms laden with gifts and had handed them out like Long Beard at Yule.

At the end of the week Bofur and Nori had invited Bilbo down to the marketplace for an afternoon free of fauntlings and other hobbits (Bilbo had never grown up in a big family and he had confided in them that sometimes it felt a bit overwhelming living in such close quarters with everyone). It was there that Bilbo learned something of dwarf culture that he had never even had an inkling of before.

Nori had darted off on some business or another (Bilbo never quite managed to get a straight answer of what the dwarf did for a living) and Bilbo and Bofur were quite happily wandering the stalls, chatting as they went. When suddenly Bofur froze like a rabbit caught in the sight of a wolf.

“Bofur? What’s wrong?” Bilbo frowned in worry at his friend. The toymaker was stuck in place, his mouth hanging open and his eyes fixed on something behind Bilbo’s head.

Bilbo followed Bofur’s line of sight and his eyebrows rose when he saw Thorin and Frerin a few stalls ahead of them.

“Oh, surely it’s not that much of a shock, I mean you met Thorin the first time I met you, and you’ve seen Dís and her boys a few times at dinner.” Bofur’s hand suddenly reached out and grabbed Bilbo’s arm tugging him away and behind the closest stall. “Honestly Bofur, they aren’t that terrifying. Thorin was actually quite pleasant to talk to after a bit and Frerin’s one of the nicest people I know.”

“Frerin. Mahal, Frerin son of Thrain.” Bofur whispered, his voice hoarse.

“Bofur, honestly what on earth is the matter with you?” Bilbo asked sternly. “Look, why don’t you come with me and I’ll introduce you again. They’re just normal people.”

“It’s… It’s not that.” Bofur leant out from behind the stall before pressing himself firmly back out of sight. “Mahal’s hammer… Prince Frerin.”

“…Yes.” Bilbo was starting to worry that Bofur had hit his head somehow. “Bofur you’re starting to scare me. What’s going on?”

“I’ve just… I’ve found my _melekel_. I’ve felt the _Urs_.” Bilbo blinked at Bofur. Did the dwarf honestly think that made any more sense to him?

“Bofur you need to clarify for me.” Bofur blinked and for the first time focussed on Bilbo.

“Sometimes I forget that you are not a dwarf.” He said shaking his head. “I take it hobbits do not have Ones?”

“Ones?” Bilbo asked and Bofur nodded.

“Ones, or _melekel_ , it means the other half, the half of all halves. The one who would make a dwarf whole.” Bilbo’s mouth dropped open.

“Like a soulmate?” He asked and Bofur nodded.

“So hobbits do have something similar?” He asked and Bilbo shook his head.

“No, it’s more like a colloquial term. For someone you love very much, that you can’t imagine living without. My parents were often called soulmates, because despite their differences they were one of the happiest couples in the Shire.”

“No, you do not have something like this then.” Bofur said, his fists clenching tight into his coat. “It is not a term, not a meaningless word. It is a fact. When Mahal created the dwarves he made them perfect, but the first dwarves were arrogant in their perfection and challenged Mahal so with a swing of his hammer Mahal split them in two and all dwarfs since, bar a few, are half of a whole.”

“So your Ones are your other halves?” Bilbo asked and Bofur nodded. Bilbo’s mouth dropped open. “So Frerin?”

“I have felt the _Urs_.” Bofur whispered. Bilbo started to smile before he realised that they were still hiding behind a stall.

“If it’s meant to be a wonderful thing why do you look like a pack of orcs are on the other side of this stall?” He asked.

“Frerin is the _prince_.” Bofur said and Bilbo raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, I know. He’s also a lovely person. Come on, I’ll introduce you.” Bofur pulled his arm away when Bilbo tried to tug him out of hiding.

“Bilbo, you don’t understand. I was a miner until a few years ago and now I’m a toymaker.”

“Yes and a very good one at that.” Bofur let out an exasperated huff and Bilbo finally realised what Bofur was trying to say.

“You think you aren’t good enough?” He demanded and Bofur flinched.

“Well, I’m not.” The toymaker defended. “Frerin is a prince, a warrior. Songs have been sung about his bravery. I am nothing compared to that.”

“Frerin is also a terrible braggart, a flirt, he loves peach tarts and hates all things to do with paperwork.” It was a strange expression to see on his friend’s face. Bofur looked like he simultaneously wanted to know everything more Bilbo had to say about the prince, and at the same time, that he wanted to run away and never hear another word. “What I’m trying to say Bofur, is that Frerin is a flesh and blood being just as you are. He might be a prince but if he is your One, then that surely means that you are also his and don’t you think he deserves to know that?”

All the colour had faded from Bofur’s cheeks and Bilbo feared for a moment that the dwarf might faint.

“Bofur?”

“Yes… Yes alright. Thank you _Bahel_.” Bofur grabbed Bilbo’s hand tight. “Could you… Can you?”

“Yes of course!” Bilbo laughed brightly and he squeezed Bofur’s hand once before dragging him out from behind the stall. The princes hadn’t moved very far, they were browsing over some material with identical frown lines on their foreheads and Bilbo almost laughed when he realised they were looking at scarves for Dís. It was her birthday next month and they were obviously trying to find something to give their sister.

Bilbo hurried through the crowd until he was stood close to the royalty. Thorin saw him first. He gave the hobbit a smile before his eyes drifted down to where Bilbo was clutching Bofur’s hand and his smile dropped.

“Master Baggins. Master Bofur.” Bilbo almost glared at the king, for all that he had been talking up the royals to have Thorin take out whatever he was angry about Bilbo by glaring at Bofur was unacceptable. Bofur seemed to be trying for all intents and purposes to melt into Bilbo’s back.

“Bilbo! How have you been! It feels like forever since I’ve seen my favourite hobbit!” Frerin exclaimed and Bilbo couldn’t help but smile.

“Don’t let Lobelia hear you say that or she might just skin me.”

Frerin grinned before his eye caught on Bofur’s hat. “Who’s your friend?”

“Ah Frerin, I’d like you to meet Bofur son of Lomb.” Bilbo tugged on Bofur’s hand until the dwarf was stood in front of him, and Bofur slowly raised his head, as if he was facing the executioner’s block.

Bilbo found himself studying Frerin rather than his friend so he saw the exact moment that the (what had Bofur called it), the _Urs_ struck.

Frerin staggered sideways into Thorin who grabbed his brother in surprise.

“ _Nadad?_ ” Thorin asked softly.

“My _melekel_.” Frerin whispered and he reached out with shaking hands until one of them found Bofur’s sleeve where he clung on like he was drowning and Bofur was a life raft. “You are my One.”

Bofur nodded and when Bilbo glanced under the hat he could see Bofur’s cheeks were bright red.

“ _My_ One.” A grin suddenly lit up Frerin’s face and he spun to face Thorin. “Thorin! I’ve found my One!”

Thorin was staring between his brother and Bofur with a dumbstruck expression.

“H-Hello.” Bofur murmured after clearing his throat.

“Hi.” Frerin grinned and grabbed a hold of Bofur’s sleeves once more. “Bofur son of Lomb. My One. My _Melekel_.”

“It’s nice to meet you Frerin son of Thrain, son of Thror.” Bofur said and Bilbo squeezed his arm encouragingly.

Frerin gasped suddenly and he fell to his knees with a crack that had Bilbo wincing and most of the market turning to look.

“Bofur son of Lomb, my One.” Frerin couldn’t seem to get enough of saying it and it made Bilbo smile. “I would have your hand, your heart. I would walk with you to Mahal’s halls. Will you do me the honour of accepting my courtship?”

“Yes.” Bilbo couldn’t recall seeing a smile so big on Bofur’s face before. Thorin cleared his throat and Bofur’s face coloured again. “Oh. Um. I mean I Bofur son of Lomb do accept the offer of courtship.”

Bilbo shook his head fondly. Dwarfs were so very strange.

Frerin leapt to his feet and he grabbed a hold of Bofur’s hand.

“Come. You need to meet everyone! Thorin! Where’s Dís? And Dwalin and Balin? I need them to meet him!” Frerin exclaimed and Thorin rolled his eyes.

“Why don’t you just invite him to dinner tonight with them, you can go spend the rest of the afternoon together.” Thorin said and if it was possible Frerin’s face lit up even more.

“Brilliant! Bilbo, can we intrude on your quarters? Only you have a much bigger table, and I want everyone to meet Bofur!” Frerin’s grin was so wide it almost looked painful.

“Oh Bofur already knows everyone.” Bilbo said, “He’s been coming to dinner for the last week.”

Frerin’s mouth dropped open and a thunderous look crossed his face.

“Curse the Danglebeards and their blood feuds! I could have met you a whole week earlier!” Frerin exclaimed and Bofur smiled weakly.

“It’s fine, it’s only a week.” But Bilbo looked down to see that Bofur was clutching Frerin just as tightly as the prince was to him.

“Come! I want to know everything about you! You need to see my quarters! Oh and my study! Do you like to read? I don’t really but Amad always said it was good for the soul so I keep a lot of books, mostly adventure stories…” Frerin’s voice faded away as he dragged a bemused Bofur away towards his quarters.

Bilbo couldn’t help but smile after them for a few moments before he turned back to Thorin who was watching the couple go with a frown on his brow and Bilbo’s good mood evaporated like a puddle in summer.

-

Thorin stared after Frerin and his One in a mixture of shock and envy. That was how easy it should be. That was how he and Bilbo should have begun their relationship. Not this horrid tiptoeing around, not the constant fear that he and Bilbo would never be together.

“I’ll have you know that Bofur is a very fine dwarf.” The hobbit in question snapped and Thorin blinked at him in surprise, wondering what Bilbo was talking about. “I don’t know what vendetta you have against him, and I’ve only just realised that was why you stopped talking to me. Because I made friends with Bofur! But he is one of the friendliest dwarfs I know and I won’t have you ruining this for him because of some ridiculous prejudice!”

“Peace Master Baggins. I meant no harm!” Thorin cried lifting his hands, he winced when he thought that he had in fact grown to hate Bofur in the short week that Bilbo had befriended him. After their meeting in the tailor shop every time Thorin had even thought about approaching his One, the toymaker had been there, most times accompanied by Dwalin’s spymaster. A cold fury had settled into his gut even thinking about how much easier the other dwarrows seemed to find it to befriend the hobbit and he had hated the toymaker for it. His feelings had only been made worse by the fact that he had been stuck negotiating that thrice-cursed blood feud all week.

“Really there’s no point lying, you’ve been glaring at him through the whole of the conversation.” Bilbo huffed and Thorin shook his head.

“I swear to you Master Baggins that I was simply contemplating what his addition to our family would mean. I’ve been told I have a very aggressive resting face. You can ask Dís or Frerin or Dwalin. I’m sure they would be more than happy to tell you that along with all the trouble it’s caused me through the years.” Thorin frowned thinking how gleefully his siblings and friend would divulge that information.

“Oh.” Bilbo frowned, his rant suddenly derailed. “But then why have you been avoiding me all week and you didn’t talk to me at the end of our visit?”

“It was not by choice.” Not fully anyway. “As Frerin said he and I have been deep in negotiating a blood feud that the Danglebeards have declared on another clan, as for why I did not talk to you… I do not find it easy to converse. The art of small talk has never been a forte of mine, not like it has Frerin… I do not make friends easily. I apologise.” Bilbo’s eyes were wide and Thorin stood slightly straighter under his gaze.

“Oh. I guess I have to apologise too then.” He said chuckling self-deprecatingly. “I’m sorry I thought you were being rude.”

“Perhaps we might start afresh?” Thorin asked and Bilbo’s smile widened to something dazzling.

“Yes definitely.”

“Would you like to join me as I try to find something for Dís? Now that Frerin has abandoned me?” Bilbo nodded.

“Of course, I’m sure between us we can find something she’ll like.”

The next few minutes were spent in silence as they wandered the stalls. Thorin might have worried about not saying anything but his One’s smile didn’t leave his face so he tried not to think about it too much, waiting until a topic presented itself to him. He remembered something Dís said and smiled.

“I hear that the little hobbit is awake?”

“Pippin? Yes. It’s a big relief.” Bilbo said before his smile dimmed slightly. “We’ve already lost so many people. I don’t know what we would have done if Pippin had died too. I don’t know if we could have survived it.”

“If there is one thing I have learnt about hobbits these last few weeks it is that they can survive much. Though I am grateful your limits were not tested in such a way. Losing anyone is hard, but losing a child is devastating.”

“Yes.” They were silent for a few more minutes before Bilbo changed the topic to something happier. “I can only assume you’ll be at our quarters tonight for Bofur and Frerin’s meal?”

“Yes. It is important that I be there as the head of the family.” Thorin said. “I would also like to get to know my brother’s One.”

“Oh well Bofur’s lovely. I’m sure you’ll like him.” Bilbo said. “Strange business all that One stuff. I’ve never heard of another race having anything like it.”

Thorin stiffened. “It is the greatest pleasure to meet your One.”

“Oh.” Bilbo looked surprised. “Have you met yours then?”

Thorin turned away, he couldn’t tell the hobbit. Not now. Not when they were just beginning to know each other.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t pry. My mother always used to tell me that I was too curious for my own good. I used to go exploring when I was little and got into so much trouble.”

“Yes. I recall Fili and Kili me telling me of an incident with a troll.” Thorin smirked when Bilbo let out an indignant squawk.

“That was not _my_ fault I’ll have you know.” Thorin just smiled as Bilbo went off on a rant about how idiotic Tooks could get anyone into trouble, even completely respectable Bagginses.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr: [HERE](http://madame-hobbit.tumblr.com/)


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